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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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Shelf .Xr-M 




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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




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Sacred Eloquence; 



OR, 



The Theory and Practice of Preaching 



BY 



A 



y 



Rev. THOMAS J. POTTER, 



trojessor of Sacred Eloquence in the Foreign Missionary College 
of All Hallows. 




FIFTH EDITION. 



FR, PUSTET, 

Printer to the Holy See and the S. Congregation of Rites. 

FR. PUSTET & CO., 

NEW YORK AND CINCINNATI. 
189I-. 




U^ 






Copyright, 1891, 

By E. STEINBACK. 

Of the firm Fr. Pustet & Co. 



The Libr 
OF Congress 

WASHINGTON 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIOS. 




|HILST I venture to hope that it will not be 
found less serviceable or less interesting 
to the clergy in general, I think it right 
and just to state distinctly in this place, 
that this work has been compiled primarily with a 
view to the use of the class of Sacred Eloquence in 
our Foreign Missionary College of All Hallows. 
During the period in which I have had charge of 
this department, my pupils and I have suffered, not 
only great inconvenience, but loss of time, from 
want of some work which, written in the English 
language, and embodying in a clear, simple, and, 
above all, practical manner, the leading principles 
of sacred eloquence as laid down by those who 
must necessarily be the guides of the ecclesiastic 
in this matter, might serve the student as a text- 
book during his college course, and as a work of 
reference during those future years in which he was 
to be actively engaged in the preaching of the 
Divine Word. I have waited patiently in the hope 
that someone better qualified, or someone who felt 



4 PREFACE. 

more confidence in his ability for the task, would 
undertake it. Having waited in vain, I have at 
length, after much hesitation and anxious thought, 
ventured to compile the Treatise which is here 
presented to the public. 

These remarks will at once serve to explain any 
qualifications which I may appear to claim in under- 
taking it, as also what may perhaps strike the reader 
as the leading characteristic of the work itself. 

I can say, with perfect sincerity, that I claim no 
peculiar aptitude for the task which I have aspired 
to perform beyond what may arise from the fact 
that I have been actively engaged in teaching this 
matter for nearly ten years ; that I have compiled 
the work from the most approved sources within 
my reach ; and that I have laboured, to the utmost 
of my knowledge and of my ability, to render it as 
perfect and as practically useful as might be pos- 
sible. If I could not claim thus much for myself, it 
would be great presumption on my part to appear 
before those to whom this work is offered. More 
than this I do not claim, unless, perhaps, I may be 
permitted to add that I have brought out this work 
because I have been assured by those whose 
opinion I naturally value most highly, that there 
is a necessity for it ; and because, so far as I know, 
there is no work in the English language which 
can be put in the hands of the ecclesiastical stu- 
dent, or which will serve the clergyman, as a manual 
of preaching— as a guide to the becoming discharge 
of what is one of the most important as it is one of 
the most holy and sublime of his duties. 



PREFACE. 5 

I believe, as I hope, that the verdict of my readers 
will assign to this work the quality of simplicity as 
its characteristic. In view of the special object 
which was before me, I have, in the compilation of 
this Treatise, aimed at the greatest simplicity, as 
well of conception as of expression, which was com- 
patible with the proper treatment of my subject. 
Whilst I have avoided as much as possible what I 
may call the purely rhetorical aspect of that sub- 
ject, I have been obliged in some places to enter 
into questions which, at first sight, may seem some- 
what technical and scholastic. Possibly, I may ap- 
pear to have treated some of these matters too much 
in detail. I venture to hope that I shall be found, 
on the one hand, to have entered into no question 
which is not thoroughly and practically useful ; 
whilst, on the other, my purpose has continually 
been to aim much more at throwing out substantial 
ideas, and at suggesting leading thoughts, than at 
their minute development. I took it for granted 
that, as regards my pupils, something was to be 
left to my own oral explanations in class ; whilst I 
knew well that the experience of my brethren who 
are engaged in the preaching" of the Divine Word — 
an experience so much greater than mine can pre- 
tend to be — would more than supply, so far as they 
are concerned, for any deficiency in my work, if such 
there be, in the way of laboured and diffuse work- 
ing out of the general principles laid down. 

When such great masters as St. Augustine, St. 
Charles Borromeo, St. Francis of Sales, and a host 
of others, have treated this subject, I ne&d scarcely 



^> PREFACE. 

say that I make no pretension of having advanced 
any new or original views in this work. I have 
merely aimed at presenting those principles, which 
are as old as the illustrious authors quoted, in a 
more simple and familiar manner ; and with such 
an adaption of general principles to peculiar cir- 
cumstances as must become necessary in course of 
time, and with such a modification as becomes no 
less necessary when those general principles have 
to be applied, not only to those to whom they 
were originally and specially addressed, but to the 
instruction and sanctification of others who differ 
from them in habits and in sympathies, in education 
and in passions, in country and in race. In treat- 
ing this subject I have kept the maxim, Non nova, 
sed nove, ever before my mind. 

I think it only remains for me to acknowledge the 
sources whence I have derived the matter for this 
work, and to return my thanks where they are due. 
Without further reference to the standard authors 
vhose names will be found mentioned in the work 
itself, my grateful thanks are especially due to the 
venerable Cure of S. Sulpice, M. Hamon, who, in 
the most generous and unqualified manner, placed 
his valuable Traite de la Predication at my disposal, 
and to the Very Rev. J. H. Newman, D.D., who no 
less kindly allowed me to make copious extracts 
from his writings. 

With these brief remarks I submit my work with 
confidence to the friendly criticism and the generous 
forbearance of those for whom it has been compiled. 
I only beg of them to forget the imperfections s which, 



PKEFACE. 7 

doubtless, they will discover in its pages, in the re- 
membrance of the earnest sincerity with which I 
have aspired and striven to be of some small service 
to those whp are my brethren in the Holy Catholic 
Faith, fellow-labourers with me in the sublime 
ministry of the Church of God, 

T. J. P. 



Testificor coram Deo et Jesu Christo qui judicaturus est vivos et 
nortuos, praedica verbum, insta opportune, importune ; argue, ob- 
i»ecra, increpa in omni patientia* et doctrinU,. 

2 Tim. iv. 



Curam animarum habentes, per se vel alios idoneos, si legitime 
mpediti fuerint, diebus saltern dominicis et festis solemnibus plebes 
;ibi commissas, pro sua" et earum capacitate pascant salutaribus 
verbis. ... Si quis eorum praestare negligat, per censuras ecclesi- 
asticas cogantur. 

Praecepto divino mandatum est omnibus qui bus animarum cura 
commissa est, oves suas . , . verbi divini praedicatione . . • 
pascere. 

Concil, Txir>. db Reform. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 
CHAPTER I. 

Introductory • • »7 

CHAPTER II. 

Necessity and obligation of diligent preparation « 27 

CHAPTER III. 

Remote preparation for preaching , • • 35 

Section I. — Style . . . • ♦ 35 

II. — A judicious course of reading • ,40 

III. — A collection of useful and striking matter • 54 

IV. — The practice of composition • • 6o 

CHAPTER IV. 

Proximate preparation for preaching # #69 

Section I. — The choice of a subject • . .69 

II. — The meditation and conception of our subject 73 
III. — The arrangement of our matter by means of 

the plan of our discourse • • 79 

IV.— Unity . . ♦ . • Zz 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

PAGE 

Five principal methods of preparing a discourse . 97 

CHAPTER VI. 
The proper time in which 10 writ 3 . , .114 

CHAPTER VI [. 

Introduction of the discourss . . # 120 

Section I. — Text . . . . .121 

II. — Exordium, strictly so-called — Examples . 122 

III. — Proposition, its nature and object — Division, 

its advantages, disadvantages, and principal 

rules .... 149 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Body of the discourse — instruction, argumentation, 

refutation, special application . . l62 

Section I. — Instruction, its obligation, necessity, and 

nature . . ... 162 

II. — Explanation of the Christian Doctrine. Clear- 
ness the essential quality of instruction — 
Means of securing it. Special adaptation of 
the subject to the audience. Rules for the 
use of words and the construction of strong 
and harmonious sentences . . 1 75 

III. — The manner of proving the Christian Doctrine 198 
IV. — Selection of arguments . . . 200 

V. — Arrangement of arguments, transition . 206 

VI. — Amplification of arguments, its nature and 
necessity. Sources of amplification — Sacred 
Scripture, the Fathers, theology, scholastic 
and ascetic; comparisons, examples, and 
parables; reason, examples. . • 2l6 

VII.— Refutation . . . .244 

VIII. — Special application of the subject to all classes 
of our hearers; or, amplification of argu- 
ments drawn from practical conclusions in re 
tnorali. Extremes to be avoided . • 254 



CONT£Nl'S. U. 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAGE 

The pathetic part — persuasion, appeal to the passions, 

peroration , 263 

Section I. — Persuasion, its nature and necessity . . 263 

II. — Appeal to the passions . . . 269 

III. — Certain conditions which are required in him 

who appeals to the passions . . 285 

IV. — The order to be observed in appealing to the 

passions .... 298 

V. — The Peroration ; or, conclusion of the discourse. 

Examples . . , 305 

CHAPTER X. 
Final preparation . . . . . 317 

Section I. — Careful revision of the written discourse . 317 

II. — Necessity and manner of committing the dis- 
course to memory . , • 321 

CHAPTER XI. 
Style of the pulpit. , # 334 



OPINIONS OE DISTINGUISHED ECCLESIASTICS. 



The following are selected from many kind and flattering notices of his 
Work with which the author has teen honoured .*— 

"My dear Mr. Potter — I wish to thank you for the copy of 
your excellent work which you have been so kind as to send me. 

"It seems to me you have succeeded in treating the subject of 
Sacred Eloquence in a manner worthy of its importance. This was 
to be expected from the wise rule which you laid down for your 
guidance — not to depart in any tiling from the principles which the 
Fathers have held concerning the true method of Gospel preaching. 
In addition to this, the judicious arrangement" you have made of the 
matter, the accuracy with which you treat of practical details, too 
often overlooked in works of this land, and the spirit of piety which 
pervades the whole, will, I am confident, render your book of signal 
service to all who are preparing for, or engaged in, the preaching of 
the Word of God. 

" Wishing you every blessing, I remain, my dear Mr. Potter, your 
obedient servant, 

«' ^ PAUL CARDINAL CULLEN." 



" Ret. and dear Sir — I beg to thank you for your excellent book 
on Sac: od Eloquence, which, I hope, will be of much use to our 
students for the priesthood. No part of it will be more useful than 
that in which you repress the ambition of being eloquent. It has been 
well said that ' Men forget that eloquence resides essentially in the 



14 OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED ECCLESIASTICS. 

thought, and that no language will render eloquent that which is not 
so in the simplest words which will convey the meaning.' St. Charles 
enjoins a ' Simplex et virilis oratio? which seems to me to be the true 
source of power over the reason and hearts of men. 

" I trust your labours will promote this, and that every blessing 
will be with you. 

" Believe me, Rev. and dear Sir, your faithful servant, 

">£ HENRY EDWARD, 
" Archbishop of Westminster." 



From. Cardinal Newman. 

«... I thank you very much for your volume. It is full of inte- 
resting matter, and I hope it will have the circulation and bear the 
fruit which it merits. . . . You have done me a great honour in quoting 
from my University publications. . . ." 



From the Very Rev Dr. Russell, late President of Maynooth. 
"... Your book is just what was wanted, and I shall gladly do al 
in my power to make it known. # , ,•' - 1 ' *" 



SACRED ELOQUENCE. 



SACRED ELOQUENCE. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 




;FTER the administration of the Holy 
Sacraments, the minister of the altar 
is called upon to discharge no duty 
more sublime in itself, mere conducive 
to the glory of God, or more useful to Iris 
fellow-men, than the worthy and becoming 
preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. In one sense, the effective preaching 
of the Gospel may be said to be almost as impor- 
tant as the administration of the Sacraments ; for. 
although it is true that the Sacraments are the 
divine channels through which his minister causes 
the priceless blood of Christ to flow upon the souls 
of men, it is equally true that, at least as regards 
those who stand most in need of those Sacraments, 
preaching is the ordinary means by which men are 
brought under their influence. When the poor 
penitent is kneeling at our feet it is easy for us to 
reconcile him to his oifended Maker ; but the diffi- 
culty is to brin£- him to that point, and, as an 



lS introductory. 

ordinary rule, it is only through the agency of the 
pulpit that the terrors of God's judgments, the 
sweetness of his mercy and long-suffering, are 
brought to exercise their saving influence upon the 
sinner's soul. And as there are many sinners in 
every flock, so. too, are there many souls who are 
striving to walk, not merely in the way of God's 
Commandments, but in the path of holy perfection : 
souls who are longing to be taught what is the 
holy, and the perfect, and the acceptable will of 
God in their regard — holy souls who, by the per- 
fect discharge of their ordinary duties, are striving 
not only ut vitam habeant. but, also, nt abundaniius 
habeant. And as it is undoubtedly the duty of the 
pastor to do all that lies in him to snatch the 
wandering sheep of his flock from the jaws of the 
infernal wolf, so, too, is it no less his duty to in- 
struct the fervent and simple souls who are to be 
found in every congregation in all those matters 
the knowledge of which is necessary in order to 
assist them in their efforts to attain the degree of 
holy perfection to which God has called them : that 
perfection which they, as persons living in the world, 
are to acquire by constant union of their hearts 
with Him ; by constant reference of all their actions 
to Him ; by the performance of all the duties of 
their state of life with that purity of intention 
which can alone render them pleasing to Him, or 
worthy of supernatural reward. And how, again, 
ordinarily speaking, are these fervent souls to be 
instructed in all these matters, except through the 
medium of the mil pit? 



INTRODUCTORY. 19 

Hence it is that the preacher of the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ is called upon to exercise a ministry 
which is most sublime in itself, and one which, as 
it may not be assumed without a divine vocation, 
surely no man will be rash enough to attempt to 
discharge without that fit and proper preparation 
which is due to the Gospel which he preaches, and 
to Him who is the Author of it. 

Be he the humblest country curate, addressing 
but a congregation of simple and unlettered pea- 
sants, the preacher, when he ascends the pulpit, 
does so, nevertheless, in the name and with the 
authority of God, and with the same divine mission 
with which our blessed Lord Himself came to make 
known the saving truths of his Gospel to men 
Si cut misit me Pater et ego mitto vos . . . euntes in 
mundum u/uversum prceaicate evangelium omni crea- 
Hirce . . . dccete omnes gentes* To him, as truly as 
to Moses of old, doth Almighty God declare : Perge 
igitur et ego ero in ore tuo, doceboque te quid ioquaris.f 
Ne timeas a facie eorum: quia ego tecum sum.% To 
him does our Divine Lord speak as truly and as 
really as He did when He charged his Apostles to 
teach his Gospel to all nations, promising at the 
same time to be with them in their preaching, even 
to the consummation of the world, and imposing 
upon all men the obligation of listening to his 
ministers with the same reverence, and of paying 
the same obedience to them as to Himself. Do- 
centes eos servare omnia qucecumque mandavi vobis 

• Joan, xx. + Exod. iv. 12. % Jerem. i 7. 



StO INTRODUCTORY. 

. » • Qui ros audit vie audit, et qui vos speruit me 
spernit* Hence it is that the true minister of the 
Gospel realises so deeply and so intimately the 
sublimity and the vast importance of the mission 
confided to him — Predicate evangelium. Hence it 
is he labours so assiduously to prepare for his 
ministry, that, forgetting himself and all mere 
earthly ends, he may preach only Jesus Christ and 
Him crucified ; that, like the great apostle of the 
Gentiles, he may be able to exclaim, Non enim 
qucero quiz vestra sunt, sed vos.f Hence it is that 
every tone of his voice, every glance of his eye, and 
every gesture of his hand, manifests how deeply he 
is penetrated with the importance of the duty en- 
trusted to him, and how intimately he realises the 
grandeur of the office which he discharges when 
he speaks as the ambassador of Jesus Christ — Pro 
Christo legal ione fun oimur, tariquam Deo exhortante 
fier nos.% Hence it is that he preaches the Gospel 
of his Divine Master cum omni imperio, that he is 
"instant in season and out of season, that he re- 
proves, entreats, and rebukes, in all patience and 
doctrine." And hence, too, it is, that when he sees 
how God blesses the words of his mouth ; when he 
sees how sinners are converted when he does but 
appeal to them ; and how, under his teaching, the 
just run on with giant strides in the way of holy 
perfection, the fervent minister of the Gospel is 
never tired of labouring, that he may prepare him- 
self to discharge more and more efficaciously the 

* Luc. x, 1 6* f 2 Cor. xii. i$. * lb. v. 20, 



INTRODUCTORY. 2l 

ministry of the Word, with a greater exactness in 
doctrinal teaching, with a greater facility of 
pleasing his hearers and of thus enchaining their 
attention, and, above all, with a greater power of 
influencing and moving the wills of men, wTiich is 
the ultimate end and object of all preaching. 

The means by which the sacred orator proposes 
to himself to obtain his end is by instructing, 
by pleasing, and by moving his flock. Docere, pla- 
cere, et movere. These are the three elements of the 
power by which the rhetorician acts upon the souls 
of his fellow-men, and acquires his influence over 
tbem — a truth which St. Augustine has expressed 
in terms as brief as they are to the point : Veritas 
pateaty Veritas placeat, Veritas moveat. By clear and 
exact instruction, combined with solid argumenta- 
tion, the sacred orator is to enlighten and convince 
the understanding of his audience. By presenting 
that instruction and argumentation in a pleasing, 
graceful, and, as far as his subject may permit or 
demand, in a polished style and manner, he is to 
prepare the minds and hearts of his audience for 
those final and highest strokes of art by which he 
aspires to influence their wills and move them to 
his purpose. Finally, having convinced the under- 
standing by the force of his arguments, whilst by 
the graces of his composition and his delivery he 
has, at the same time, rendered his hearers attentos, 
benevolos,et dociles, the speaker, by the unction which 
he displays at once in his matter and in its de- 
livery, by the burning earnestness, the zeal for the 
glory of God, and the welfare and salvation of the 



21 INTRODUCTORY. 

souls of his listeners, which he manifests in every 
tone of his voice, and even in every gesture of his 
hand, acts upon the hearts of his hearers, turns 
them whither he will, and moulds them to his pur- 
pose, thus attaining the happy result which every 
orator, but more especially every preacher, must 
necessarily propose to himself as the end and aim 
of all his preaching, viz., the persuadi)ig of his 
hearers to take those good resolutions which he 
has already, by his argumentation, convinced them 
they ought to adopt. 

It is one thing to convince our auditors that they 
are bound to take a certain step, it is another to 
persuade them to take it. Conviction is an essen- 
tial part of persuasion, but it is not persuasion. 
Persuasion, i.e., the art of influencing the will, is 
the ultimate end of all preaching, properly so called. 
It depends on two things — ist, on argument to 
prove the fitness of the object proposed, and the 
expediency of the means suggested; and. 2ndly, 
on exhortation, i.e., on the exciting of men to adoj t 
those means by appealing to their passions* This 
is the analysis of persuasion, and, as is evident, the 
orator, in order to persuade, must understand 
thoroughly the various parts of which it is com- 
posed. He must know how to satisfy the judgment 
by solid argument, and he must know how to move 
the will by the skilful stirring of the passions which 
influence the human heart. We call one of these 
the argumentative, and the other the pathetic, or 

* Whately's " Elements of Rhetoric" 



INTRODUCTORY. J>3 

moving part of a discourse. He who best knows 
how to combine the two qualities, in their due pro- 
portion and measure, is undoubtedly the best and 
most effective preacher ; and these pages have been 
compiled in the humble hope of aiding the young 
preacher, or the ecclesiastical student, in his efforts 
to attain this twofold excellence. 

The dignity and grandeur of the office of the 
Christian preacher have, perhaps, never been more 
eloquently described than in Lamartine's magnifi- 
cent sketch of Bossuet, the true prince of the French 
school of pulpit eloquence. We quote from the 
translation published by Mr. Bentley, London : * 

" The priest, in all his majesty, his authority, his 
intellectual pride, could not be better represented 
than in the person of Bossuet. 

" Bossuet, to exhibit himself as he was — to de- 
velop, in their extent and grandeur, the high 
qualities of soul, genius, diplomacy, energy, and 
eloquence with which nature had endowed him — 
could not have been anything but a priest. 

" This eminent person was made for the priest- 
hood, the pontificate, the altar, the vestibule of the 
cathedral, the pulpit, the trailing robe, and the 
tiara : any other place, office, or habiliment would 
be inconsistent with such a nature. The mind 
could not picture Bossuet to itself in the habit of a 
layman. He was born a high-priest; his nature 
and profession are so indissolubly bound up and 

* •* Memoirs of Celebrated Characters," by Laroartine. London : 
Richard Bentley. 



»4 INTRODUCTORY. 

blended together that even- thought itself cannot 
separate them ; he is not a man, but an oracle. 

"That instinctive holiness which surrounds the 
priest with a prestige of virtue superior to the rest 
o mankind is not entirely a chimera; respect for 
the priesthood is but an outward sign of that 
inward veneration which every pious mind feels 
towards the Creator. The ministers of religion 
paas their lives in more intimate communion with 
the Deity than mere men of the world are accus- 
tomed to seek; they have holy names stamped 
upon their bosoms ; they wear the livery of the 
King of kings ; and when we salute them we pay 
homage to the Master through his servants. 

" Moreover, they speak from the tribune of the 
soul ; they are the orators of moral feeling ; the 
pulpit is their throne ; this throne, to the occupier 
who has genius to wield his power, and oppor- 
tunity, is greater than that of kings: it is from 
thence* the consciences of men are governed. 

" Of all the eminences which a mortal may reach 
on earth, the highest to a man of talent is incon- 
testably the sacred pulpit. If this individaal hap- 
pens to be a Bossuet ; — that is to say, if he unites 
in his person conviction to inspire the commanding 
attitude, purity of life to enhance the power of 
truth, untiring zeal, an air of imposing authority, 
celebrity which commands respectful attention, 
episcopal rank which consecrates, age which gives 
holiness of appearance, genius which constitutes 
the divinity of speech, reflective power which marks 
the mastery of intelligence, sudden bursts of elo- 



INTRODUCTORY. 25 

quence which carry the minds of listeners by 
assault, poetic imagery which adds lustre to truth, 
a deep sonorous voice which reflects the tone of 
the thoughts, silvery locks, the paleness of strong 
emotion, the penetrating glance and expressive 
mouth : in a word, all the animated and well- 
varied gestures which indicate the emotions of the 
soul ; — if such a man issues slowly from his self- 
concentrated reflection, as from some inward sanc- 
tuary ; if he suffers himself to be raised gradually 
by excitement, like the eagle, the first heavy flap- 
ping of whose wings can scarcely produce air 
enough to carry him aloft ; if he at length respires 
freely, and takes flight ; if he no longer feels the 
pulpit beneath his feet; if he draws in a full breath 
of the Divine Spirit, and pours forth unceasingly 
from this lofty height, to his hearers, the inspiration 
which comes to them as the word of God, this 
being is no longer individual man, he becomes an 
organ of the divine will —a prophetic voice. 

" And what a voice ! A voice which is never 
hoarse, broken, soured, irritated, or troubled by the 
worldly and passionate struggles of interest pecu- 
liar to the time ; a voice which, like that of the 
thunder in the clouds, or the organ in the cathedral, 
has never been anything but the medium of power 
and divine persuasion to the soul ; a voice which 
only speaks to kneeling auditors ; a voice which is 
listened to in profound silence, to which none reply 
save by an inclination of the head or by falling 
tears — those mute applauses of the soul ; — a voice 
which is never refuted or contradicted, even when 



20 INTRODUCTORY. 

it astonishes or wounds ; a voice, in fine, which 
does not speak in the name of opinion, which is 
variable ; nor in the name of philosophy, which is 
open to discussion ; nor in the name of country, 
which is local ; nor in the name of regal supremacy, 
which is temporal ; nor in the name of the speaker 
himself, who is an agent transformed for the occa- 
sion ; but which speaks in the name of God, an 
authority of language unequalled upon earth, and 
against which the lowest murmur is impious and 
the smallest opposition a blasphemy. 

" Such is the tribune of the priesthood, the tripod 
of the prophet, the pulpit of the sacred orator. We 
can only behold therein Bossuet, and we cannot 
recognise Bossuet in any other place. His life is 
but the history of his pulpit eloquence. The man 
is worthy of the rostrum from which he preached ; 
no other oratory has ever equalled his. Great 
names have been selected and preserved, but 
Bossuet, whose genius equals theirs, excels them 
in the range and elevation of his subject. They 
speak of earth, while he discourses of heaven. 
Cicero does not surpass him in a careful selection 
and ample supply of words ; Demosthenes pos- 
sesses not superior energy of persuasion ; Chatham 
is not more richly endowed with poetic oratory ; 
the periods of Mirabeau do not flow more easily ; 
Vergniaud is not more redundant of imagery and 
illustration. All have less elevation, extent, and 
majesty in their language : they were human ora- 
tors, but Bossuet alone was divine ! To understand 
him fully, we must first mount to his own level, 
and encounter him in the heavens." 




CHAPTER II. 

NECESSITY AND OBLIGATION OF DILIGENT 
PREPARATION. 

HERE are, no doubt, occasions in which a 
pastor is so overwhelmed by press of 
business, or is called upon so unexpect- 
edly to preach, that preparation is morally im- 
possible. In such circumstances, excused by his 
necessity before God and man, he has a right to 
expect the assistance of heaven and the indulgence 
of his hearers. With these exceptions, we have no 
hesitation in asserting that the pastor of souls is 
bound to prepare his discourses carefully, and with 
such an amount of diligence as will render them 
efficacious to their end — the salvation of his flock. 

If he be bound sub gravi to instruct his people, 
he must be bound to prepare himself to do so in an 
effective and fruitful manner, since there must be 
some proportion between the end and the means. 
It is an incontestable fact that the preacher who 
speaks without serious preparation speaks, as an 
ordinary rule, without order or solidity. He con- 
tinually repeats himself, runs off into interminable 
or useless digressions, and smothers his ideas 
under a deluge of empty verbiage. There are few 
preachers, more especially young ones, who, when 
they venture to speak without preparation, do not 



28 NECESSITY OF DILIGENT PE.EPARATION 

run the risk of acquitting- themselves badly, and of 
incurring shipwreck before the eyes of all. Besides, 
there are moments of sterility in which even the 
readiest intellect finds itself barren and cold. There 
are a thousand influences which may arise to dis- 
compose and cause us to lose the thread of our 
discourse. Sometimes an inattentive audience, 
sometimes an unforeseen circumstance, sometimes 
a troublesome imagination which obtrudes itself 
upon us, and, spite of all our efforts to repel it, dis- 
turbs the order of our ideas and the chain of our 
reasoning. Hence the reasonableness and truth of 
the proverbs, " A sermon which costs the preacher 
little to compose, costs the audience a great deal to 
listen to," and " That which costs little is worth pre- 
cisely what it costs" Hence we easily deduce the 
obligation by which the pastor is bound to prepare 
his discourses carefully, since, without such pre- 
paration, he runs the risk of lowering himself in 
the eyes of his people, and. what is much worse, of 
compromising his ministry. 

The preacher who ascends the pulpit without 
preparation will scarcely escape being guilty of 
irreverence to the Word of God. This Divine 
Word, which, according to St. Augustine, merits 
the same respect as the body of Christ, is not to be 
presented to the people except in such a guise as 
is proper to conciliate their veneration and esteem. 
On the other hand, a good sermon is a difficult 
undertaking, and he who supposes that it can be 
accomplished without much patient preparation, 
without much reflection and labour, deludes himself 



NECESSITY OF DILIGENT PREPARATION. 2t) 

faost egregiously. If even those who prepare most 
carefully sometimes fail, what is the certain fate of 
those who never prepare at all ? Is it any wonder 
if they end in talking nonsense, in becoming ludic- 
rous through their empty assumption, or pitiable 
from their miserable failure either to please, to in- 
struct, or to move ? 

The young preacher who attempts to speak with- 
out preparation is certainly wanting in his duty to 
God. The ambassador who should not worthily 
represent his prince, who should not use his utmost 
efforts to bring those negotiations with which he 
has been charged to a successful conclusion, would 
justly be looked upon as a traitor and prevaricator. 
When the preacher ascends the pulpit he represents 
the Divine Majesty, he is the ambassador charged 
with the great and all-important interests of the 
glory of God, and the salvation of immortal souls; 
and is it likely that the young preacher, weak from 
his very inexperience, who presumes to treat of 
these momentous matters without all due and dili- 
gent preparation, will not dishonour his embassy 
by his negligence and his rashness, will not expose 
those divine and eternal interests with which he is 
charged, to serious and, perhaps, irreparable 
injury ? 

Does he tempt God by expecting a miracle to 
supply for his wilful negligence, that is to say, by 
expecting to instruct and move his flock by means 
of a discourse which contains neither instruction 
nor anything calculated to move the sinner's 
heart, which is wanting at once in clearness and 



3P NECESSITY OF DILIGENT PREPARATION. 

order, in solidity and unction ? It is true that the 
ultimate fruit and success of our preaching- depend 
upon Him who giveth the increase, but it is equally- 
true that the ordinary Providence of God only thus 
crowns the efforts of those who spare no pains, who 
omit no labour to prepare their discourses, to render 
them solidly instructive, and calculated by their 
unction and warmth to produce salutary impres- 
sions upon the souls of the hearers. 

Not only does such a preacher fail in his duty 
towards God, but also towards his audience. The 
most humble, equally with the rich and learned, have 
a right to be respected. They are equally possessed 
of immortal souls, which have been redeemed by 
the priceless blood of Jesus Christ, which are equally 
destined to reign for eternity in heaven. They have, 
therefore, an equal right to be treated with respect, 
and if the discourse which is to be addressed espe- 
cially to the humble is 3 of its nature, more simple, 
it does not, therefore, follow that the preacher 
is exempted from bestowing upon it that prepara- 
tion which > mutatis mutandis, it demands from him. 

We may, or we may not, be prepared to adopt 
the opinion of the theologian, Navarre, who holds 
that the preacher who habitually neglects to pre- 
pare his sermons is guilty of a grave temptation of 
God ; but, in any case, it seems certain that such a 
person incurs a very serious responsibility. Male- 
dictus qui facit opus Dei negligenter* says Holy 
Writ, and it is difficult to conceive any work which 
is more truly the opus Dei than the preaching of 
* Jer. xlviii. 10, 



NECESSITY OF DILIGENT PREPARATION. 31 

his Holy Gospel. What sensible man, in order to 
save himself a little labour, which, if he be a man 
of study and ecclesiastical habits, should be truly a 
labour of love, will run the risk of charging his 
conscience with the eternal loss of those souls who 
might, perchance, have been saved had he laboured 
as he ought to have done to prepare himself to in- 
struct them better in their duty, and to move their 
hearts more efficaciously to God r If such a negli- 
gence, according to Ouintilian, be utterly unpar- 
donable in a mere secular advocate, In suscepta 
causa, perfidi ac proditoris est, 'pejus agere quant 
possit* what is to be said of the Christian priest, 
who, if he fail in his duty, compromises not merely 
the fortunes or the honour of worldlings, but those 
interests which are infinitely higher, holier, and 
more sublime — the glory of God, and the salvation 
of those souls for whom Christ died. If it be true 
that each one is to be rewarded according to his 
labour, Unusquisque propriam mercedem accipiet 
secundum suum laborem,^ what reward is he to 
receive from his Master's hand who has no labour 
to show, no souls who have been instructed by 
him unto justice to lead to that Master's feet, he 
whose words have been, in very truth, but as the 
sounding brass and the tinkling cymbal ? 

Nor let anyone seek to make excuses for his 
negligence by pretending that he thus preaches 
more apostolically. Let him remember that, if 
certain holy men have produced very great fruit by 

• Lib. xii. 9, + J Cor. iii, 8, 



32 NECESSITY OF DILIGENT PREPARATION'. 

the most simple and unpremeditated discourses, 
they were possessed of virtues and sanctity to which 
he can lay no claim. If they ever spoke without 
preparation, it was simply because, on account of 
their vast occupations and apostolic labours, pre- 
paration was morally impossible ; and God, seeing 
their good- will and their valid excuse, blessed their 
good intention and crowned their work with a 
benediction which amply supplied for all its short- 
comings in the way of positive preparation. Let 
him remember that the great saints, who are the 
preacher's best models, never desisted from careful 
and studious preparation of their discourses. St. 
Augustine, that master of sacred eloquence, even 
after having preached every Sunday for thirty years, 
continued to prepare his instructions with the 
greatest care, as he himself tells us at the end of 
his fourth sermon on the 103rd Psalm. Magno 
Lahore qncesita et invent a sunt : magna labore nuntiata 
et dispidata sunt: sit labor noster fruduosus vobis, et 
benedicet anima nostra Dominum. St. Chrysostom 
never invited anyone to his table, in order that he 
might have more time to prepare his instructions, 
applying to himself the words of the apostle, Non 
est ceqiumi nos derelinquere verbum Dei et ministrare 
mensis;* and St .Charles Borromeo never considered 
himself excused from this preparation, even in his 
busiest moments, and notwithstanding the facility 
which he had acquired from long study and frequent 
practice. In fine, St. Liguorio, spite of the simpli, 

* Acts, vj, 2, } 



NECESSITY OF DILIGENT PREPARATION. 33 

city both of style and expression which he requires 
in the preacher, never allowed the members of his 
congregation to ascend the pulpit unless they had 
first written what they intended to say, until such 
time as their talent had been so developed by study 
and practice as to render this minute preparation 
unnecessary. But, even then, he required them to 
meditate their matter profoundly, and to make a 
well-defined and substantial plan of their discourse. 
And, if this be the teaching and the practice of 
those who ought to be at once his guides and his 
models, have we gone beyond due limits in thus 
pointing out to the young preacher the obligation 
under which he lies of devoting careful, solid, and 
studious preparation to his discourses ? Do we say 
too much when we affirm that, in ordinary circum- 
stances, there are few clergymen who, if they begin 
early in the week, and husband their leisure dis- 
creetly, will not be able to find ample time to 
prepare their matter and the best manner of de- 
livering it, without in the least degree trenching 
upon that relaxation which is becoming, useful, and 
necessary for them ? Do we go beyond our pro- 
vince in again earnestly reminding the ecclesias- 
tical student, or the young preacher, of the sublime 
and all-important interests which are at stake, the ad- 
vancement of God's greater glory, and the salvation 
of immortal souls ? It is certain that there are many 
of his flock who will never acquire that knowledge 
which is absolutely necessary to salvation unless 
they acquire it from his teaching; many who will 
never be reconciled to their offended Maker, unless 

3 



34 NECESSITY OF DILIGENT PREPARATION. 

the terror of God's judgments are driven into their 
souls by his preaching. Is it too much to remind 
him that his reward is to be according to his labour 
— to remind him that he who instructs even one 
soul unto justice shall shine for all eternity like a 
star in the kingdom of his Father r Is it too much 
to encourage him to take upon himself, cheerfully 
and willingly, that labour which the due discharge 
of this most holy and most important work will re- 
quire at his hands, by the remembrance that the 
sufferings of this time are not worthy to be com- 
pared with the glory that is to come r 




CHAPTER III. 

REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

REACHING is essentially a practical work. 
Although, whether we consider the mission 
and authority of the preacher or the matter 
and end of his preaching, one of the highest works 
to which the energies of man can be devoted, it is 
equally true that it is essentially a practical work, 
with a practical end to be attained by practical 
means ; and, whilst in our preparation to discharge 
the sacred obligation of preaching the Gospel, we 
are, according to the famous rule of St. Ignatius, 
to pray as if everything depends upon God, we are 
to labour as if everything depends upon ourselves. 
In the following pages we therefore propose to con- 
sider : — I. The preparation, remote and proximate, 
for preaching; II. The method to be followed in 
composing a sermon ; and, III. The manner of 
delivering it. 

Section I. 

Style. 

The remote preparation for preaching consists in 

the employment of certain preparatory means 

which are calculated to give us a facility when we 

come to the actual work of composition. It would, 



36 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

perhaps, be more correct to say, that the remote 
preparation for preaching consists in the formation 
of our style, which, we need scarcely remark, is a 
most important matter. It is not so easy to explain 
what we mean by style. It is not merely lan- 
guage, neither does it consist in words. Perhaps the 
best idea we can form of individual style is that of 
Dr. Blair, who describes it as the peculiar manner 
in which a man expresses his conceptions by means 
of language. Style must, therefore, necessarily 
have some reference to the manner in which a man 
thinks. It is a painting, in words, of the ideas 
which are born in a man's mind, and of the man- 
ner in which they are born there ; and, hence, as 
no two men think in precisely the same manner, so 
no two men will have precisely the same style. 
Hence, too, in proportion as a man's mind is bold, 
clear, original, logical, or sentimental, will his style 
partake of those qualities, if he be able to express 
his thoughts with facility in words. 

There are many men who think with great 
vigour, justice, and originality, and who, never- 
theless, when they attempt to speak or write, are 
said to have a very bad style, and the reason of 
this is, that, either from some natural failing, or, 
more probably, from want of early training, they 
do not possess such a command of language as 
enables them to express their own thoughts as 
they conceived them. Hence, there is a want of 
harmony and concord between the thought and the 
vianncr in which it is expressed. The speaker feels 
that he is not saying what he thought in the way 



KEMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. yj 

in which he conceived it ; that he is endeavouring 
to express his idea in language which neither suits 
it nor expresses it ; and, hence, as a natural con- 
sequence, that he expresses weakly and badly ideas 
which in themselves were original and powerful ; 
and which, if he could have put them into words, 
might have left their mark upon his fellow-men. 

The possession, therefore, of a good style sup- 
poses that a man thinks well, and that he expresses 
those thoughts well. It supposes, too, that, as 
every man of mind thinks in a manner which, 
under some respect, is peculiar to himself, so he 
expresses himself in a manner peculiar to himself; 
or, in other words, in a manner which is his own ; 
and, according as the logical or sentimental faculty 
predominates in his nature, with a predominance 
of one or other of these qualities in his style. 

The following admirable remarks on this subject 
occur in Dr. Newman's " Essays on University 
Subjects : "* — 

" A great author, Gentlemen, is not one who 
merely has a copia verborum, whether in prose or 
verse, and can, as it were, turn on at his will any 
number of splendid phrases and swelling sentences ; 
but he is one who has something to say and knows 
how to say it. I do not claim for him, as such, 
any great depth of thought, or breadth of view, or 
philosophy, or sagacity, or knowledge of human 
nature, or experience of human life, though these 
additional gifts he may have, and the more he has 

* Essay ii., Literature. 



3 8 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR Pi'.EACHIXG. 

of them the greater he is ; but I ascribe to him, as 
his characteristic gift, in a large sense the faculty 
of expression. He is master of the twofold Ao'yoe, 
the thought and the word, distinct, but inseparable 
from each other. He may, if so be, elaborate his 
compositions, or he may pour out his improvisa- 
tions, but in either case he has but one aim, and 
is conscientious and single-minded in fulfilling it. 
That aim is to give forth what he has within him ; 
and from his very earnestness it comes to pass, 
that, whatever be the splendour of his diction or 
the harmony of his periods, he has with him the 
charm of an incommunicable simplicity. Whatever 
be his subject, high or low, he treats it suitably and 
for its own sake. If he is a poet, ' nil molitur inepte! 
If he is an orator, then too he speaks, not only 
'distincte' and ' splendide,' but also * apte* His 
page is the clear mirror of his mind and life — 

" ' Quo fit, ut omnis 
Votiva patent veluti descripta tabella 
Vita senis.' 

" He writes passionately, because he feels keenly, 
forcibly, because he conceives vividly ; he sees too 
clearly to be vague ; he is too serious to be otiose : 
he can analyse his subject, and therefore he is rich; 
he embraces it as a whole and in its parts, and 
therefore he is consistent ; he has a firm hold of it, 
and therefore he is luminous. When his imagina- 
tion wells up, it overflows in ornament ; when his 
heart is touched, it thrills along his verse. He 
always has the right word for the right idea, and 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 39 

never a word too much. If he is brief, it is because 
few words suffice ; if he is lavish of them, still each 
word has its mark, and aids, not embarrasses, the 
vigorous march of his elocution. He expresses 
what all feel, but all cannot say ; and his sayings 
pass into proverbs among his people, and his 
phrases become household words and idioms of 
their daily speech, which is tesselated with the rich 
fragments of his language, as we see in foreign 
lands the marbles of Roman grandeur worked into 
the walls and pavements of modern palaces. 

" Such pre eminently is Shakespeare among our- 
selves ; such pre-eminently Virgil among the Latins ; 
such in their degree are all those writers, who in 
every nation go by the name of Classics. To par- 
ticular nations they are necessarily attached from 
the circumstance of f\e variety of tongues, and 
the peculiarities of each ; but so far they have a 
Catholic and oecumenical character, that what they 
express is common to the whole race of man, and 
they alone are able to express it." 

These remarks sufficiently demonstrate how im- 
portant it is that every man who aspires by incli- 
nation, or who is bound by duty, to address his 
fellow-men, should possess a good style, and a style 
which is his own. As an ordinary rule, the founda- 
tion of a good style must be laid in the preparatory 
classes of poetry and rhetoric which form a neces- 
sary part of the education of every clergyman ; and 
it is evident that it would be out of place here to 
enter into a consideration of those qualities which 
form the essential conditions of a good style, in the 



40 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

general acceptation of the term ; as, for example, 
the perspicuity and ornamentation of language ; 
the clearness, unity, strength, and harmony which 
are required to constitute a perfect sentence, and 
the manner of employing the various figures of 
speech. Anyone wishing for more information on 
what we may call the fundamentals of style, may 
read with profit Blair's " Lectures on Rhetoric and 
Belles Lettres," or any of the more modern works 
on the subject. When, therefore, we speak of the 
remote preparation for preaching as consisting in 
the employment of certain practical means which 
are calculated to give us a facility in actual compo- 
sition, and in the formation of our style, we use 
the term style in its widest sense, and we also take 
for granted in the student the possession of at least 
a fair preparatory English education, together with 
a knowledge of the principles of English composi- 
tion, and a reasonable facility in their use. The 
remote preparation, in this sense, for preaching 
consists — In a judicious course of reading : In a 
collection of good and striking matter: In the 
practice of composition. 

Section II. 

A Judicious Course of Reading, 

By a judicious course of reading is not meant, in 
this place, such a course of reading as we under- 
take with the view of collecting materials to aid us 
in the actual composition of our discourse. We 
shall speak of this later on, but at present we are 



Remote preparation for preaching. 41 

merely considering that course of studious and re- 
flective reading which is entered upon for the pur- 
pose of forming our style, of cultivating our taste, 
and of developing to the utmost those talents with 
which nature may have endowed us. It is certain 
that the studious reading" of good models is the 
most excellent and most efficacious means of form- 
ing our style, and of developing our taste. Hence, 
the celebrated saying of Seneca, Longum iter per 
prcecepta, breve et efficax per exempla. Those rules 
and precepts, which are in themselves so good and 
so useful, are never half so efficacious or striking 
as when they are practically brought home to us in 
their application by a powerful writer ; and, in fact, 
it is only in such application that we thoroughly 
comprehend the bearing of those principles, which, 
until we see them thus applied, must be to us more 
or less theoretical. It is this practical application 
which enables us to understand them, which reveals 
to us their real signification, which shows them to 
us in practice, and thus, whilst we are careful to 
retain to the full our own individuality, assists us 
to form and develop our own peculiar style. So 
true is it that the judicious reading of good models is 
one of the most efficacious ways of forming our style, 
that it is almost impossible to read such writers 
without insensibly acquiring, in some degree, their 
manner of expressing themselves ; even although we 
may read without any such object before our minds. 
That we may derive full benefit from such a 
course of reading we must observe during it certain 
practical rules : — 



42 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

i. We must, agreeably to the counsel of Quin- 
tilian, Diu non nisi optimus quisque, et qui credentem 
sibi minime fallit, legendus est* be content to con- 
fine ourselves for a long time, until our style is 
formed, to a small number of good and standard 
works. The reason of this is evident. By reading 
works of inferior merit the young writer exposes 
himself to be led astray by that false and mere- 
tricious style, both of thought and of word, which 
is so common at the present day, and which pre- 
vails to such an extent in the sensational novels 
and the flimsy essay writing of our time. He 
exposes himself to the danger of taking as true 
eloquence that which is false to the last deg'ree, and 
of thus, perhaps irretrievably, ruining his style. 
On the other hand, by reading, studiously and at- 
tentively, a small number of really good writers in 
that peculiar department of eloquence which we 
aspire to cultivate, we become filled with their 
spirit — with their manner of thinking and of speak- 
ing. We make them, so to speak, our own ; and, 
thus cultivating and developing our own peculiar 
talent, we acquire a true taste, and form a just, 
peculiar, and more or less striking style ; whilst 
those who read many books, without thoroughly 
studying any, derive but very little solid fruit from 
their reading. 

2. Besides confining ourselves to a few standard 
writers, we must also take care not to read too 
much. In such a course of reading as that which 

* Lib. x., cap. I. 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 43 

we are now considering, it is a golden rule to read 
but little at a time, and to meditate on that little 
very deeply. If we read too much at once the mind 
becomes fatigued, and the eye merely rests upon 
the page, but we derive from our reading no clear, 
distinct, or lasting ideas. It is essential, then, to 
think much. If, for example, we are studying the 
sermon of some celebrated writer, we shall examine 
the plan and general arrangement of the discourse, 
with the mutual connection of the various parts. 
We endeavour to strip the proofs, and the reasons 
brought forward in support of them, of all the ex- 
ternal influence which they may derive from the 
name and authority of the writer, by considering 
them in themselves. We endeavour to weigh them 
in the balance of their own simple value, and to 
discover whether they are really solid, whether they 
are to the point, and whether each one is in its 
proper place. We endeavour to put ourselves in 
the position of the author. We say to ourselves : 
" Here I had such or such a point to prove, and this 
is the way I have proved it." After having thus 
analysed the discourse, and placed its skeleton 
before us ; having the divisions and various proofs 
of the author clearly in our mind ; we proceed to 
consider how he amplifies and embellishes these 
primary ideas ; how he clothes this skeleton in such 
rich and beautiful garments ; by what figures of 
speech, and by what strokes of oratory, he renders 
such a proof so telling and effective. We endeavour 
to penetrate and to master the art with which he 
applies the rules and precepts of rhetoric to his 



44 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

subject, and thus, perhaps, we shall discover, to 
our own great profit, our author's happy secret, and 
what it is which enables him to express his ideas so 
powerfully and so well. In order to fix the subject 
more deeply in our mind it is most useful occasion- 
ally to make a written analysis of the matter which 
we are reading : considering — if the subject of our 
study be a sermon or other formal discourse — the 
nature of the plan, the proofs which are brought 
forward in support of the leading proposition to be 
sustained, and the principal oratorical developments 
of those proofs. This habit of analysing what we 
read is of the greatest utility. It accustoms us to a 
spirit of reflection ; it familiarises us with order and 
method; whilst, at the same time, it engraves deeply 
on our memory the most striking beauties of the 
work we are perusing. Several of the most suc- 
cessful writers with whom we are acquainted were, 
in their youth, assiduous in the practice of thus 
analysing the matter which they read. 

3. In his choice of books the young student must 
distrust his own judgment, and defer to that of men 
who are his elders in years, and his superiors in 
knowledge and wisdom. It does not follow because 
a book is popular that, therefore, it is a good model 
on which to form one's style. Many of the most 
popular works of the present day are about the last 
which a student should take up for this purpose. 
Let him apply his mind to the study of such works 
alone as have been consecrated by the verdict of 
ages, or placed in the first rank by the decided and 
unvarying judgment of those who are best qualified 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 45 

to guide public opinion. Too many books is, per- 
haps, one of the greatf' evils of our age, and now, 
more than ever, it is ..ecessary for the student to 
apply the old precept: Non multa, sed multum* to 
his reading. 

Amongst the works to which he will direct his 
attention, the Holy Scriptures most certainly hold 
the first place. For boldness of thought, for gran- 
deur of conception, and sublimity of style, the 
books of the Old Testament are not to be ap- 
proached. It is scarcely necessary to remark that 
it- is generally admitted that most of the books of 
the Old Testament were written in verse, or in some 
kind of measured numbers. The general construc- 
tion of the Hebrew poetry is very singular. Each 
period or verse is divided into correspondent, and 
generally equal numbers, which answer to one 
another both in sense and in sound. In the first 
member of the verse some sentiment is expressed. 
In the second member the same sentiment is am- 
plified, or repeated in different terms, or perhaps 
contrasted with its opposite ; but always in such 
manner that the same structure is preserved, and 
generally nearly the same number of words. In- 
stances of this occur everywhere in the Old 
Testament. Let us take the 95th Psalm as an 
exemplification of our meaning : — 

First Meinber. Second Me??iber. 

Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle. Sing to the Lord all the earth. 
Sing ye to the Lord and bless his Show forth his salvation from day 
name. to day. 

* Plin., Jun. lib. vh., c. xi. 



46 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

Declare his glory among the Gen- His wonders among all people. 

tiles. 
For the Lord is great and exceed- He is to be feared above all gods. 

ingly to be praised. 
Praise and beauty are before Him. Holiness and majesty in his sanc- 
tuary. 

We may clearly deduce the reason for this form of 
composition from the manner in which the Hebrews 
were accustomed to sing their sacred hymns. These 
hymns were performed by alternate bands of singers 
and musicians. For instance, one band began the 
hymn, " The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice," 
whereupon the chorus, or alternate band, took up 
the corresponding verse, ;< Let the multitude of the 
isles be glad thereof." We ha* e ventured to say 
that the Hebrew poetry is unapproachable in its 
grandeur and sublimity. What more magnificent 
than the language of the 2.3rd Psalm, which we 
may take as an example, and which is supposed to 
have been composed on the occasion of bringing 
back the Ark of the Covenant to Mount Zion. The 
whole people are following in devout procession. 
They begin to ascend the sacred mount, when the 
voices of some choristers are heard, asking: '"Who 
shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, or who 
shall stand in his holy place r " With a burst of 
jubilant harmony the entire body respond : " The 
innocent in hands and the clean of heart. " As they 
approach the doors of the tabernacle we have 
another burst of triumph and praise : " Lift up your 
heads, ye princes ; and be ye lifted up, ye everlast- 
ing gates ; and the King of Glory shall come in." 
Here again we have the semi- chorus asking : " Who 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 47 

is this King of Glory r" to which, as the ark is in- 
troduced into the tabernacle, the answer is given in 
another shout of triumphant jubilee : " The Lord, 
strong and mighty; the Lord, mighty in battle." 

The sacred poetry is distinguished by the strength 
and conciseness of its style; and we may safely say 
that no other work so abounds with bold and life- 
like figures. It is alive, to use a homely expression, 
with metaphors, comparisons, allegories, and per- 
sonifications. The pastoral habits of the Hebrew 
people and the peculiar nature of their country, its 
trees and flowers, its mountains and valleys, its 
long periods of drought, and the almost magical 
influence of its fertilising showers, its earthquakes 
and tempests, its whirlwinds and darkness, are all 
brought into play in the sacred poetry, and with 
an imagery that is natural and expressive in the 
highest measure. Hence the magnificent figure in 
which Isaiah describes the earth "reeling to and 
fro, like a drunkard ;" as also the appearance of 
the Almighty described in Psalm xvii. 

The style of the poetical books of the Old Testa- 
ment is, beyond that of all others, fervid and bold. 
It cannot be compared with the effusions of even the 
most gifted of merely human poets. It is often 
irregular, and often abrupt. Sometimes its connec- 
tion is obscure, and its figures heaped upon one 
another almost to confusion ; still, there is but one 
word which expresses its character. It is sublime. 
Sublimity is its characteristic. Other poetry may 
be elegant, may be polished, may even burn with 
passion, but the poetry has yet to be written which 



48 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

approaches, even within an infinite distance, to the 
sublimity of the poetry of Holy Writ ; and we can 
best understand this when we reflect that the poetry 
of the Scriptures is the burst of inspiration, the 
language of men who are endeavouring to express, 
as far as human language can express them, the 
burning thoughts, the sublime conceptions, the 
grand ideas, which have been born of God. 

Not only do the sacred writings abound in the 
highest exemplifications of all that renders poetry 
sublime and beautiful, but they also afford us choice 
examples of the different kinds of poetical compo- 
sition. The Book of Proverbs, and that of Eccle- 
siastes, are striking examples of the didactic species 
of poetry. The lamentation of David over his friend 
Jonathan, as also over his unfortunate son Absalom, 
are specimens of elegiac poetry, as tender and 
plaintive as were ever penned; whilst the Book of 
the Lamentations of Jeremiah is probably the most 
perfect elegiac composition in the world. The 
Canticle of Canticles is a beautiful example of pas- 
toral poetry, whilst the Old Testament is full of 
specimens of lyric poetry — that is, of compositions 
intended to be sung with music. Besides the song 
of Moses, of Deborah, and many others, the whole 
Book of the Psalms may be considered as a collec- 
tion of sacred odes, exhibiting that form of compo- 
sition in all its varied and most striking forms. 

Our space will not permit us to enter into an 
examination of the characteristics of the style of the 
various sacred writers, but we cannot pass from 
this subject without particularly calling the atten- 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 4Q 

tion of the student to the majestic and unparalleled 
grandeur of the compositions of the Prophet Isaiah. 
Majesty, truly, is the characteristic of his style. In 
the grandeur of his conceptions, and the wonderful 
power with which he expresses them, he stands 
alone ; and we can readily conceive what is related 
of Bossuet, viz., that he never sat down to com- 
pose without previously reading a chapter of this 
prophet, after we have heard Lamartine's account 
of the impression which was made upon him by 
the Scriptures even in his childish days :* 

" The Bible, and, above all, the poetical portions 
of Holy Writ, struck as if with lightning, and dazzled 
the eyes of the child ; he fancied that he saw the 
living fire of Sinai, and heard the voice of Omnipo- 
tence re-echoed by the rocks of Horeb. His God 
was Jehovah ; his lawgiver, Moses ; his high-priest, 
Aaron ; his poet, Isaiah ; his country, Judaea. The 
vivacity of his imagination, the poetical bent of his 
genius, the analogy of his disposition to that of the 
Orientals, the fervid nature of the people and ages 
described, the sublimity of the language, the ever- 
lasting novelty of the history, the grandeur of the 
laws, the piercing eloquence of the hymns, and 
finally, the ancient, consecrated, and traditionally 
reverential character of the book, transformed 
Bossuet at once into a biblical enthusiast. The 
metal was malleable ; the impression was received, 
and remained indelibly stamped. This child be- 
came a prophet : such he was born, such he was as 



* "Memoirs oi Celebiated Characters," by Lamartine, 

4 



50 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

he grew to manhood, lived, and died — the Bible 
transfused into a man." 

As Isaiah is the most sublime, so David is the 
most pleasing of the sacred poets, whilst Job is dis- 
tinguished by his powers of description. We have 
spoken at some little length of the beauties of the 
sacred writings, because we know no other work 
which can be of such service to the student in 
storing his mind with the grandest conceptions 
which have ever been expressed in words. We 
know not where he will acquire such true, and, at 
the same time, such magnificent ideas of the majesty 
of God, as those which are given by Isaiah and Job, 
by Moses and Baruch ; where he will find anything 
half so sweet, so tender, and pathetic, as the ex- 
hortations of Moses to the Israelites ; or where he 
will discover such a perfect blending of simplicity 
of style with grandeur of conception as in the dis- 
courses ef our Lord Jesus Christ, as related in the 
Gospel of St. John, where the Divinity seems to be 
sensibly present in every word. 

It is impossible to read the sacred writings with 
reverent and studious attention without having the 
mind elevated and enlarged, the imagination de- 
veloped and cultivated, and, above all, the heart 
moved with the deepest and the holiest emotions. 
If we read the Scriptures carefully and constantly, 
we begin by degrees to acquire the Scriptural tone 
of thought, and to find a facility in the use of Scrip- 
tural language. We begin to clothe our own poor 
ideas in the language of Scripture, and they at once 
become sublime. 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 51 

The style which has been formed upon, and, so 
to speak, consecrated by the study of the Holy 
Scriptures, gives an unction to our discourse which 
renders it efficacious beyond our fondest hopes. As 
we cannot read those sacred pages without feeling 
* a love for sanctity and truth, without feeling a 
desire to become better men, so, if we have read 
them until our style is formed upon them, and our 
hearts impregnated with their spirit, we shall speak 
with a power at once sweet and efficacious, which 
we can derive from no other source. What is it 
that gives their force and charm to the writings of 
St. Bernard, and causes us to regard them almost 
as if they were inspired, but the fact that they are 
full to overflowing with Holy Scripture ? The saint 
had studied the sacred writings until he was tho- 
roughly imbued, not only with their train of 
thought, but also with their mode of expression ; 
and, in proportion as we, in our humble measure 
and degree, imitate him in our devout study of the 
same holy book, shall we approach to the beauty 
of his style, to the unction of his language, and to 
his influence over the hearts and wills of our fellow- 
men, in leading them to the feet of Jesus Christ, 
the end and aim of all our study and of all our 
preaching. 

Great advantage may be derived by the student 
of sacred eloquence from a judicious perusal of the 
writings of the Holy Fathers. At the same time it 
is probable that but few will have the opportunity, 
or perhaps the inclination, to devote much time to 
this study. Amongst the Greek Fathers, tlu 



52 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

writings of St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, and St. Gre- 
gory Nazianzen ; and, amongst the Latins, those of 
St. Augustine and St. Bernard will probably be 
found the most useful in assisting the sacred orator 
to form his style. Rollin remarks that anyone who 
possesses the homilies of St. Chrysostom, and the 
sermons of St. Augustine upon the Old and New 
Testament, is amply provided with models for every 
kind of sermon. We would certainly wish to add 
St. Bernard to the list, since the devotion and unc- 
tion which breathe through all his writings, and 
the beauty of his style, render his works of inesti- 
mable value to the sacred orator. Striking extracts 
from the Fathers may be found in the Thesaurus 
Patrum, but it is better, when it can be done, to go 
to the original sources for our reading on this head. 
In the space at our disposal it is obviously impos- 
sible to enter into a critical examination of those 
works in the class of secular literature which may 
be considered " standard," and to the perusal of 
which the student may safely and usefully devote 
his attention. There are certain works which the 
most learned and cultivated of all ages have una- 
nimously concurred in viewing as " standard," and 
to this judgment, as we have already remarked, the 
young student must be content to defer. Amongst 
these works is Demosthenes in the Greek, and 
Cicero in the Latin. A person anxious to cultivate 
his style could scarcely take a more effectual means 
of doing so than by carefully translating the ora- 
tions of Cicero into good English. As regards our 
English authors, it will not, perhaps, be rash to 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 53 

assert that Shakespeare is our greatest example o- 
whatever is beautiful and refined in thought, glow 
ing in imagination, and strong in words. In nerv- 
ous language— language which soars immea- 
surably above the commonplace words of ordinary 
men, Shakespeare is facile princeps. To the man 
who aspires to acquire a nervous style, and an idiom 
that shall be at once powerful and pure, we say 
unhesitatingly, let him study the Bible and Shake- 
speare; and there was very great force in the 
remark made by Archbishop Sharp, a distinguished 
dignitary of -the Establishment, when he said, 
"There are two books which made me an arch- 
bishop, and they were the Bible and Shakespeare." 
Amongst the writers of pure English of our day we 
know no one who holds a higher place than the 
venerable Dr. Newman, and we know no works 
which the sacred orator can peruse with greater 
profit than the " Occasional Sermons," and some of 
the " Discourses to Mixed Congregations," of that 
illustrious author. 

The perusal of poetry and of works of fiction is 
useful within certain and well-defined limits. The 
poetry must be good, such as will cultivate the 
imagination without sullying it, whilst the fiction 
is only useful in as far as it reveals the workings 
of the human heart, and is true to life. Anything 
like indiscriminate reading in these branches oi 
literature is attended with so many dangers, and 
dangers of such deadly nature to the ecclesiastic, 
that the student, more especially the young one, 
will, if he be wise, altogether mistrust his own 



54 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

judgment on this subject, and be guided by the 
opinion of his professor, or some other discreet 
person, in the selection of such works in general 
literature as it may be useful or expedient for him 
to read. Whatever may be the subject of his 
reading, he will above ^11 things, remember that he 
is reading for the one sole end of preparing himself 
to be a worthy ambassador of Christ ; that he may 
be able to preach the Gospel cum omni imperio, as 
well as with dignity and grace ; that, by the worthy 
and efficacious use of the great instrument which 
Christ has deigned to place in his unworthy hands, 
he may not only lead his flock into the possession 
of eternal life, but also to the attainment of a 
high degree of glory in the mansions of the 
heavenly Jerusalem. Ut vitam kabeant, et abundanthis 
habeant. 

, Section III. 
A Collection of Useful and Striking Matter. 

i. Besides forming his style, there is another very 
practical result which the student ought to derive 
from his studies, and it consists in making a collec- 
tion, in writing, of all those matters which he has 
found most striking, or best adapted for his object 
as a preacher, in the course of his reading. Locos 
sibi comparabit, says the great St. Charles, quibus 
auditorum animi commoveri solent ad amor cm Dei. 
By making a note of those matters which occur to 
us in our reading as most remarkable, or which 
seem to us to possess the greatest power of moving 



remote preparation for preaching. 55 

the heart and influencing the will, we lay up for 
ourselves a precious store from which we shall be 
able*, in our need, to draw abundant materials for 
our sermons. We thus turn to account, and render 
useful for all our future life, the public lectures at 
which we may assist, or the course of private study 
and reading to which we have devoted our atten- 
tion. In this way nothing is lost, but everything 
which an intelligent precaution deems fitting for 
such a purpose is placed in reserve for future use. 
Without some such plan we shall certainly lose the 
fruit of the greatest part of our reading, and of 
those vivid impressions which may have been made 
upon us. At the time we are composing our ser- 
mon we very often remember to have read, or to 
have heard something very useful upon the subject 
in hand. But what was it r Where did we hear 
it, or in what work shall we find it r We neglected 
to make a note of it at the time, and now, to our 
very great loss, we cannot recall it to our mind. 
Perhaps, too, we remember to have been deeply 
moved by some reflections which, years ago, we 
made upon this matter. Then, we could, without 
the slightest difficulty, have written pages upon 
this subject which would have been full of unction 
and warmth. Now, we are cold and without feeling. 
Now, we are in absolute poverty, and we would 
give a good deal to be able to remember what it 
was which moved us so much in those former days, 
when, perhaps, our imagination was fresher, when 
our heart was warmer, when its best impulses were 
more easily stirred. But we allowed the precious 



$6 REMOTE PREPAR VTION FOR PREACH r NG. 

thoughts to pass away without making note or 
comment on them, and so we must be content at 
oresent to pat up with our poverty and indigence, 
feeling all the while that we allowed a great means 
of moving the hearts of our fellow-men, and of thus 
advancing the interests of Him whose ambassadors 
we are, to pass away without turning it to profit or 
account. 

This " making of notes " on our reading, this 
collection of matter, supposes some amount of 
labour, and hence, perhaps, .these remarks will not 
bear much practical fruit. At the same time, let 
the young reader be convinced that, if he is to attain 
any degree of excellence as a preacher, it will only 
be by the same means by which excellence is at- 
tained in every other science or art, a good deal of 
hard study and of hard labour. If he is to reach 
the goal he must fit himself for the running ; if 
he is to carry off the prize he must be content to 
pay the price. 

We have the authority of many learned and holy 
men on this point. The learned Pope Saint Damasus 
regarded as so much lost time that which he spent 
in reading of which he did not take notes. Lecti- 
onem sine stylo somnium puta. The great St. 
Charles, the example of all that is holy and be- 
coming in an ecclesiastic, had an immense collec- 
tion of "notes," and in the preface to his "Homilies" 
he confesses that they were of the greatest assist- 
ance to him in helping him to write and to vary 
his instruction. The rules of the Society of Jesus, 
so full of the deepest and most practical wisdom, 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING 57 

prescribe this collecting oi matter to preachers. 
St. Francis Xavier, one of the most illustrious 
members of the Order, thus speaks on this point : 
" Be assured," he says, " that what we commit to 
paper is imprinted more deeply on the mind ; the 
very trouble of writing" it, and the time which is 
spent in doing so, engrave the matter on the 
memory. Be assured, too," he continues, "that 
even those matters which move us most deeply are 
very soon forgotten. They will leave no lasting 
fruit behind them if we do not, whilst our ideas are 
still fresh, make a note of them, so that we can 
refresh our memory with them when necessity re- 
quires. The fruit which we derive from a perusal 
of our note-books is like that of miners who come 
again upon some vein of precious metal which they 
had lost, and which, now that they have found it, 
they work with the greatest profit and advantage." 
Words as full of practical wisdom as they are of 
truth ! 

One of the most remarkable things in the iatc 
illustrious and gifted Cardinal Wiseman, and one 
which caused most astonishment, was the facility 
with which he could, at very short notice, and with 
an amount of information and depth of thought 
which were truly surprising, lecture upon almost 
any given subject, upon any branch of science or 
art, sacred or profane. The fact is not so very 
wonderful, or, to speak more correctly, it is more 
easily understood, if what was related to us be 
true, viz., that from his earliest years he was ac- 



58 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

as he went along, no matter what might be the 
subject of his reading, of everything that struck 
him as worthy of being remembered. In this 
way he collected an immense mass of materials, 
which his powerful intellect, his great grasp of 
mind, and his command of language, enabled 
him to turn to ready account, even on the short- 
est notice. Of what use this course of studious read- 
ing enabled him to be to his fellow-men, what 
dignity it added to his office, what lustre it shed 
upon his Church, and, best of all, what glory it 
brought to God, we shall not presume to say ; but 
we think we may safely venture to propose him to 
the student as an example of what may be done 
by study, and of the glorious prize which may be 
gained by him who, with a pure intention and a 
valiant heart, does not shrink from paying the 
price of it. 

2. There are many methods of taking these 
"notes." Experience will probably suggest to 
each one that which suits him best. M. Hamon 
of St. Sulpice, in his valuable " Traite de la Predi- 
cation" throws out the following useful sugges- 
tions :— 

i. To have a note-book, and at the top of each 
page to inscribe some heading in alphabetical 
order, as, ex. gr., Abstinence, Baptism, Charity, 
&c. &c. Under its respective heading the student 
is to make a note of whatever he may meet with 
which is most striking on this subject, whether he 
comes across it in his reading, hears it in a sermon, 
or from whatever source he may derive his infor- 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 59 

mation. 2. If the student think it worth his while 
to make notes of all that he reads, he ought to have 
one book especially set aside for the insertion of 
notes which have peculiar reference to preaching. 
3. There is no necessity for writing out at full 
length passages from the Scriptures or the Fathers. 
It is loss of time to do more than note the place 
where they may be found. 4. We should make 
notes of those matters merely which are specially 
worthy of being remembered. If we have reason 
to fear that we have been led away by a false bril- 
liancy, it is well to wait a little while, and to re- 
consider the matter at a cooler moment, before we 
make a note of it. 5. When some passage or re- 
flection which we wish to note moved us in a 
particular manner, it is always useful to profit by 
this moment of inspiration to commit to writing 
the sentiments by which we were affected, and 
the practical resolutions which we took in conse- 
quence of them. We are never so eloquent as in 
the moments when we are thus penetrated with, 
and full of, our subject. The language of such 
moments is the true language of the heart, and it 
will not fail to have its due effect when applied to 
our fellow-men. 

The Thesaurus Biblicus i the Thesaurus Patrum, 
and, perhaps best of all, the Instructissima Biblio- 
theca Manualis Cone ion a tor ia of Father Lohner, 
contain most valuable notes on subjects useful to 
preachers, and are excellent models of the manner 
in which to make these collections of materials. 
Everyone should, however, strive to collect matter 



60 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

for himself. Nothing will be so useful to him as 
that which is the fruit of his own labour, which is 
the reflection of his turn of thought and of the 
temper of his mind, which is, in one word, his 
own. 

Section IV. 
The Practice of Composition. 

By a course of studious reading, and a diligent 
" noting " of whatever strikes us as most remark- 
able, we do much towards forming our style, as well 
as towards laying up that fund of knowledge which 
is absolutely necessary for him who is to be a suc- 
cessful preacher. But it is not sufficient to read 
much. It is still more essential for him who 
aspires to acquire a good style, and a correct and 
elegant manner of expressing himself, to write much. 
Caput est, says Cicero, treating of this matter, quam- 
pturimum scribere* 

The advantage of frequent composition can 
scarcely be overrated. It is quite possible for him 
who has once learned how to write well, and who 
has, by practice in composition, acquired a facility 
of expressing himself with correctness and elegance, 
to become a good extempore preacher. We venture 
to say that he who has not first learned how to write 
well will hardly ever, if ever, become a really good 
speaker. He may acquire a certain fluency, but he 
will seldom attain that degree of grammatical cor- 

* De Orat. lib. i., c. xxxiii. 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 6l 

rectness, and that measure of polish and elegance 
Ar'uich mark the man of education, and which his 
Hock and the Church have a right to expect in the 
preacher of the Gospel. Hence it is, that in the 
course of studies through which we put the young 
aspirants to the sacred ministry, we insist so much 
upon this practice of composition, upon the writing 
of sermons. We do so because we are most deeply 
convinced that we can never prepare those who 
have been entrusted to us as a precious charge to 
be trained for the work of the sacred ministry — 
those who, as they are now the objects of our dearest 
aspirations and our highest hopes, are, hereafter, to 
be our glory and our crown — to speak well in the 
future, unless we first teach them how to write well. 
And, if this were merely our own opinion, it might 
not be of much weight. It has been the opinion of 
all who, from Aristotle and Cicero downwards, have 
been most competent to speak on this point. 

By the practice of careful composition not only 
do we discover our faults, whether of grammar or of 
style, but, whilst we force ourselves to correctness 
and precision, we also gain the clearest insight 
into our own minds, and discover the treasures 
which may perchance be hidden there. A man, 
at all events a young man, never knows what is 
really in his mind, the extent of his knowledge, the 
logical connection of his ideas, the force of his rea- 
soning powers, the depth of his sympathies and 
emotions, until he begins to write. Under what- 
ever aspect he may view the practice of composi- 
tion, whether as a means of acquiring mere correct- 



62 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

ness, of attaining elegance and beauty of style, 
or of educating and developing the latent powers of 
his mind and heart, let the young student be con- 
vinced that the words of Cicero are pregnant with 
wisdom and truth, Caput est, quamplurimum scribere. 

It is difficult to lay down definite rules upon this 
matter. Practice under the eye of a competent 
professor is, perhaps, the most efficacious means of 
advancing; but we venture to throw out a few 
practical hints which may be useful to those who 
do not enjoy this privilege. 

i. After having thoroughly studied and dissected, 
by means of analysis, in the manner described at 
page 40, the composition of some standard writer, 
it is most useful, whilst our mind is full of the sub- 
ject, to rewrite the whole matter, and then com- 
pare our production with the original of our author. 
There is scarcely any exercise which is more useful 
than this in opening the mind, in developing and 
cultivating the taste, in affording us a practical 
application of the rules and precepts of rhetoric, 
and thus of imprinting them most deeply on the 
memory. 

2. Another method of composing, more simple, 
and, perhaps, not less useful, consists in reading 
attentively a page or two of some standard writer, 
and in such a manner as to possess his principal 
ideas. Then, laying aside the book, the student 
endeavours to reproduce those ideas in writing, and 
in the most correct language of which he is master. 
He endeavours to seize the author's form of ex- 
pression, his grace, his precision, and strength, the 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 63 

figures which he employs, and the turn of his 
thoughts. Takinguphisbookagain,he compareshis 
page or two with those of his model. Thus, easily 
and without much labour, he discovers the faults of 
his own composition and the particular in which he 
has failed most; whilst the excellences of his model 
are more and more deeply engraven on his mind. 
Many learned men counsel us to endeavour to ex- 
press in our own language the most beautiful and 
striking passages of Holy Writ, of the Fathers, and 
of other standard authors. The efforts which we 
make to render our original correctly, to preserve his 
grace, his colour, and his form, cause us to do our 
utmost that we may become penetrated with his 
beauty, that we may think and speak as he thinks 
and speaks, that we may appropriate (in a sense to 
be presently explained] his style and his turn of 
thought. In one word, it causes us to wrestle, so 
to speak, with our model, and, in this wrestling, to 
have recourse to all the resources which language 
affords us ; and thus, after a little time, we acquire 
a fecundity of ideas, and a facility of expression, 
which probably astonish even ourselves. Cicero 
tells us that the most effective means which he em- 
ployed in his study of eloquence consisted in trans- 
lating some of the choicest morsels of the great 
Grecian orators into his own language. This exer- 
cise is indeed most useful, but we must take great 
care to choose a good model, otherwise we run the 
risk of spoiling our style instead of forming it. 

The imitation of good models, whether in writing 
or in speaking, is of the highest utility. Good 



6-1 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

models inspire us with ardour, emulation, and a 
keen desire of excellence. According to Quintilian, 
a great part of art is placed in the imitation of good 
models, in discovering what is most perfect in them, 
in penetrating the abundance and the riches of their 
compositions, the variety of their figures, and the 
general characteristics of their style ; but whilst it 
is true that a preacher may do much towards form- 
ing his style by a judicious imitation of good and 
great models, it is equally true that this imitation, 
whether of writers or speakers, is full of danger, 
and requires a very great deal of discretion in its use. 

In the first place, mere imitation is worse than 
useless, and is altogether unworthy of a man. If a 
man is ever to acquire any degree of excellence as 
a preacher, it must be by developing what is his 
own, and not by the slavish imitation of any other 
person. We have already said that every man of 
mind thinks and expresses himself, to some extent, 
in a manner which is peculiarly his own. A man 
will be a great man just in proportion as he is, in 
this sense, an original man. At the same time, 
there is no genius so original that it may not be 
profited by the aid of good examples in composi- 
tion, style, and delivery. 

But, in our imitation of good models, it is above 
all things necessary to preserve and carefully culti- 
vate whatever we may have in ourselves that is 
original andpeculiarlyourown. Eachonehashisown 
peculiar characteristic which distinguishes him from 
others. Each one has his own manner of conceiving 
a subject, of revolving it in his mind, and of giving 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 65 

expression to his thoughts and sentiments; and the 
greatest men have only attained their respective de- 
grees of perfection by developing their own charac- 
teristic qualities, by cultivating that specialty 
which nature has given them, and by turning it to 
the very best account. 

It is a grand secret to know ourselves, and to 
adopt our style to our own specialty. We do no 
study good models in order that we may steal from 
them what is peculiarly theirs, and what may be in 
nowise suited either to our temperament or our 
style; but we study them in order that we may 
derive from their more matured experience, and 
their greater excellence, the means of developing in 
ourselves those peculiar qualities which they may 
seem to share, to some extent, with us. In this 
sense we endeavour to appropriate whatever we 
consider most excellent in them by making it our 
own. Such imitation is certain to open some 
new ideas, certain to enlarge and purify our own, 
to give new vigour to the current of our thoughts, 
and greater depth to the emotions of our heart. 
We behold, for example, certain peculiar qualities 
in a great orator, and we feel that we possess 
the same, but with this difference, that he pos- 
sesses them in a higher degree, and expresses 
them with more power than we are able to do. 
We endeavour to penetrate his secret, and to 
discover the source of his excellence. Having 
done so, we strive, not to steal what is his, but 
to make it our own ; and, by transferring it to 
Our own souls, to cause it to aid us in developing 

5 



66 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

and raising to the highest degree of perfection 
our peculiar and characteristic qualities ; those 
qualities, be they of head or of heart, of cold logic 
or of warm sympathies and deep emotions, which 
distinguish us from other men ; those special quali- 
ties and characteristics whose cultivation is to be 
the foundation of whatever degree of greatness or 
excellence we are to attain. 

It is, then, of the last importance to discover our 
peculiar gift, our peculiar turn of mind ; to find out 
whether we are most moved to act upon our fellow- 
men through reason or through feeling; to ascer- 
tain whether our peculiar forte lies in argument or 
in passion, and to make all our oratorical studies, 
and all our imitation of great models, tend to the 
one sole end, the cultivation of our peculiar gift, 
whatever it may be. If we mistake it, or if we 
devote ourselves to the cultivation of any other 
than our own proper talent, we shall never rise to 
greatness, we shall never attain that degree of ex- 
cellence which the dignity of the pulpit demands 
at our hands. 

If we have received the gift of "convincing" by 
deep and logical argument, it would be a great 
mistake to quit this style in order to cultivate that 
of him whose excellence lies in his warm and bril- 
liant imagination. If we have received a great 
power of " moving/' and of stirring the hearts of 
men, it would be a fatal error to strive after the 
style of the grave theologian who attains his end 
by severe reasoning and dry dissertation. He who 
is able to speak well, so long as he confines him« 



REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 6; 

self to simplicity of style and of matter, must be 
content with that degree of perfection which is 
marked out for him, and not seek to attain heights 
which are beyond his reach. How many eccle- 
siastics throw away the real talent which they 
possess in their vain efforts to acquire some degree 
of excellence which is above their grasp, and to 
which they are not called. How many, whose 
success would have baen complete if they had con- 
fined themselves to familiar instructions, have ren- 
dered themselves useless, perhaps ridiculous, in 
their efforts to preach grand sermons. How many, 
in aspiring to become orators, without having been 
born for it, have ended by becoming mere de- 
claimers. Such as these may fitly apply to them- 
selves the words of David when he had clothed 
himself in the armour of Saul, non possum incedere 
quia usum non habeo* If we are called to do battle 
for God with the heavy weapons of Saul, let us 
gird them on and use them like men. If we are 
not, let us be content to wage our war in a more 
humble way. Like David, we may gain a victory 
by means of the simple pebble, which would never 
have graced our arms if we had striven to fight 
with the sword of Saul. 

It is scarcely necessary to add that it is never 
lawful to copy. We may lawfully, and often use- 
fully, borrow the ideas and the proofs of a writer; 
but, before employing them, we must make them 
our own by studying them so deeply that at length 



68 REMOTE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

we conceive them in our own way, and express 
them in our own words and in our own peculiar 
style. He who uses the words of another, without 
stating whence he borrows them, is simply a pirate. 
If he does so habitually he takes the most effectual 
means he could devise of betraying his own want of 
genius, or, if he really possess any, of destroying it. 
It will be well if he do not end by making himself 
ridiculous, and by bringing disgrace upon himself 
and his ministry. As we have said, no two men 
think alike. If this be true, it follows pretty evi- 
dently that no man can express himself naturally 
in another man's words. The preacher who is not 
?iatural will hardly escape being ridiculous. 

We have dwelt at some length on this matter of 
remote preparation, because, having had some con- 
siderable experience in training young men for the 
work of the ministry, we have had many practical 
proofs of its necessity; because we have had to 
contend with the almost insuperable difficulties 
which have met us when it has been wanting ; and, 
because we believe and know it to be the foundation 
of any real excellence which the Christian preacher 
may attairu 




CHAPTER IV. 

PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

E now proceed to consider the proximate 
preparation for preaching, or, in other 
words, the actual composition of our 
sermon. We shall divide this part of our subject 
into two great leading heads. The first will con- 
tain four sections : I. The choice of a subject. 
II. The due consideration and meditation of that 
subject. III. The arrangement of our matter by 
means of the plan of our discourse, including, IV. 
Some remarks on Unity. The second will treat of 
the various parts or members of a discourse, with 
the revision and method of obtaining an expedite 
"possession" of what we have composed. 

Section I. 

The Choice of a Subject, 

It is very important to make a good selection of 
the subject on which we intend to preach. The 
subject is the foundation of our discourse, and 
unless the materials of that foundation be dis- 
creetly chosen and well adapted to their purpose, 
the edifice will scarcely be either sound or pleasing. 
As an ordinary rule, the subject of his Sunday's 
sermon will be marked out to the pastor, either bj 



-O PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

the Gospel of the day, the recurrence of a great 
festival, or by some peculiar circumstance in his 
parish, as the prevalence of a certain vice, &c. &c. 
However, whatever be the circumstances in which 
he may be placed, there are certain practical rules 
to be observed in the selection of his subject, and 
the manner in which he will treat it. 

i. He must not allow himself to be influenced by 
self love in the choice of his subject Self-love will 
be sure to suggest those subjects which admit of 
the most display and of the highest flights of 
oratory. The true pastor of souls will rather be in- 
fluenced by the thought of what will be most useful 
to his flock, and he will select those subjects which 
he deems most conducive to their salvation, those 
subjects by which he can most easily instruct, move, 
and convert his people, since this is the end of his 
preaching. As a natural consequence, he will take 
the greatest care to adapt his subject to the pecu- 
liar circumstances of his flock, to their wants, their 
dispositions, their capacity, their prejudices, the 
time and place in which he addresses them. It is 
evident that no discourse can be of any lasting 
service unless it be thus adapted to the peculiar 
circumstances of the congregation to which it is 
addressed. 

2. Amongst many subjects which would be use- 
ful, he will always, when the selection is in his 
hands, choose that which he deems, omnibus pen- 
satis, the most useful to the majority of his congre- 
gation. Such subjects are the Four Last Things, 
"tfoe Sacraments, the Commandments of God and 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 71 

his Church, and all those great leading truths of 
our faith which essentially interest all men at all 
times. He can never preach too often on the great 
evil of sin and its terrible chastisements in thh 
world and in the next; on the madness of those 
wno are restrained from vice neither by the judg- 
ments of God, the eternal sufferings of hell, nor the 
loss of heaven ; on the benefits of redemption ; on 
the dignity of a Christian ; on the obligation of 
forgiving injuries, and of flying the occasions of 
sin ; on the obligation of prayer, its advantages, 
and the conditions required to render it acceptable 
with God ; the duty of alms-giving ; the crime of 
human respect ; the abuse of grace ; the loss of 
time, &c. &c. The preacher should not allow 
himself to be restrained from preaching on these 
subjects by the consideration that they are old and 
have been often treated before. The man who is 
truly zealous, and who honestly prepares himself 
for his work, can always present these old, indeed 
these eternal truths, in a new way — in such a way 
as to be full of interest to those who are to secure 
their eternal salvation by the practice of these old 
truths. Let him remember, Non debemus dicer c 
nova t sed nove. Let him be convinced, too, that his 
flock, distracted and taken up as they are by the 
cares, the allurements, and the sins of the world, 
easily forget even the most elementary truths. Let 
him be convinced that they require, the rich as 
well as the poor, those who are well up in the 
world's knowledge and education equally with the 
unlettered and the ignorant, to be frequently in- 



72 PROXIMATE 'PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

structed in these elementary truths, to be no less 
frequently admonished, in omni patientia et doc- 
trina, of those obligations and duties which flow 
from them. 

3. Whilst he selects those subjects which he 
deems most useful to the majority of his flock, the 
discreet pastor will, as far as circumstances permit, 
also select those which are best adapted to his own 
peculiar style and natural talent. If, for example, 
he have a peculiar power of moving souls through 
the consideration of the mercy and the goodness of 
God, he will seldom essay to speak on hell and those 
terrible subjects in which so few succeed, and which, 
unless they are powerfully handled, are perhaps 
better let alone. He will also avoid subjects which 
are too prolix, and which oblige the preacher to 
glance at many matters without really or thoroughly 
entering into any one. 

4. Having fixed upon his subject, the preacher 
will next determine the peculiar points of view 
under which it will be most useful to present it to 
his flock, the practical conclusions to be urged upon 
them, the way in which the reform of such a vice, 
or the practice of such a virtue, is to be brought 
about. The practice of virtue is sometimes pro- 
posed to a flock in such a manner as to make it 
appear full of difficulties, disagreeable and repug- 
nant ; whilst it might, with a little more trouble, 
and the aid of a little more discretion, have been 
brought before their eyes as infinitely reasonable 
in itself, infinitely beautiful and grand, infinitely 
useful to thos© who faithfully adopt it. The discreet 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 73 

pastor will always carefully study how he may pre- 
sent it in this latter light to his flock. For this end 
he will examine how he can best bring it before 
them in such a manner as to suit their present 
dispositions ; the aspect of the question which will 
be most pleasing to them, and most readily win 
their acceptance of his views. Above all things, 
he will, from the first moment of fixing upon his 
subject, begin to ask himself that question, the 
answer to which is to secure the unity and practical 
usefulness of his discourse : What is it that I am 
going to propose to my congregation ? What am 1 
about to ask of them ? By what means do 1 expect to 
gain my end ? 

Section II. 
The Meditation and Conception of our Subject. 

After having selected our subject, and determined 
the points of view under which we shall treat it, the 
next step in our preparation is to ponder it deeply 
and with all the powers of our mind. To meditate 
our subject is to place ourselves face to face with it, 
to study and sift it to the bottom, to look at it in 
all its different aspects until we become, so to speak, 
irradiated with it ; until we see at a glance how we 
can make it most effectually conduce to the instruc- 
tion, the conviction, the persuasion, and the amend- 
ment of our flock. 

i St. How we can make it conduce to their instruc- 
tion — and, for this end, we examine what is said 
upon the matter in theology, and whilst we form 
clear, precise, and exact ideas on what we may 



74 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

call the doctrinal part of our subject, we also con- 
sider the best means of conveying these ideas to 
our audience. 

2ndly. How can we make it conducive to the con- 
vincing of their understanding — and, for this purpose, 
we study what proofs and what line of argument 
are likely to make most impression upon them, and 
we endeavour, by deep and serious reflection, to 
become so intimately penetrated with our subject, 
so intimately convinced of its truth and its reason- 
ableness, as to be filled with wonder at the folly of 
those who do not at once give in their assent to it. 

3rdly. How we can make it conduce to their per* 
suasion — and, for this, having instructed and con- 
vinced our audience by argument, we consider how 
we can most powerfully act upon their souls, and 
influence their wills ; what strokes of oratory we 
can employ to move, to soften, and to gain them, 
and what we can say that shall go at once to their 
hearts. We consider how we can bring Holy 
Scripture to our aid, how we can turn to the best 
account the examples of the saints, the views of 
faith, and our knowledge of the human heart. We 
also consider what figures of rhetoric, as, for ex- 
ample, apostrophe, personification, interrogation, 
&c. &c, will be of most assistance to us in moving 
our audience, and the manner in which these 
figures shall be employed. 

4thly. How we can make it conducive to the ira- 
mendment — and to this end, having seen, in a 
general way, how we are to persuade our audience, 
we descend still more to particulars, and ask our- 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 75 

selves what we are going to propose to our flock 
that is really practical and to the point, what acts 
of virtue and what salutary practices we are about 
to impress upon them ; in one word, how we are 
going to correct what is amiss in them, how we 
are going to lead them into the path of sanctity 
and perfection. 

Some such process as this, which we have en- 
deavoured to sketch, is what is meant by the 
meditation of our subject, and it is recommended 
by all great masters of the art as an essential con- 
dition of every good composition. "Without such 
serious consideration we shall speak at best but 
superficially, often inexactly. Our discourse will 
be nothing but a heap of cold and pointless ideas ; 
a mass of texts and immature reflections. We shall 
be obscure, because, as we have not taken the 
trouble to study our subject, we shall possess no 
clear and well-defined ideas upon it. We shall be 
cold, inasmuch as neither our heart nor our ima- 
gination will have been inflamed in the furnace of 
deep and earnest meditation. We shall be diffuse, 
because we shall advance without order, like a 
traveller in a strange country. By due meditation 
of our subject, on the contrary, we become masters 
of it, and fully possess it. Possessing it clearly, we 
announce and develop it with ease and facility. 
Our intellect supplies us with the clearest proofs, 
our heart with the deepest emotions, and our ima- 
gination with the richest and most varied figures. 
The most telling expressions, the most striking 
and original turns of thought, and the most appro- 



7& PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

priate figures, present themselves, as it were, in- 
stinctively to us, and it is thus that the best style 
flows out from its natural source, and the greatest 
beauties which can adorn a sermon spring without 
effort from the subject itself. 

There are two methods of meditating our subject, 
the direct and the indirect. If we happen to be per- 
sons of great intellect, persons possessing a deep 
store of information, and a grasp of mind which 
enables us to turn that information to ready and 
practical account, or, if circumstances prevent us 
from employing any other, we may use the direct 
method, which consists in placing ourselves at once 
face to face with our subject, in bringing all the 
powers of our mind to bear upon it, until we become 
penetrated with it, until we see it in all its aspects, 
until, especially, we behold at a glance the precise 
manner in which it is to be brought to act upon 
those whom we are about to address; and thus 
viewing it, in itself and in its relation to our 
audience, we at last, to use the words of Abbe 
Bautain,* conceive our subject, and, in this concep- 
tion, obtain the leading idea of our discourse, the 
idea that is to be embodied in the one proposition, 
the proving and the establishing of which is the 
end and aim of our sermon, as we shall show a 
little later on when treating of unity. This direct 
method of meditating and conceiving our subject 
is a purely intellectual process in the sense that it 
supposes no actual reading-up of matter, no col- 

* The Art of Extempore Speaking. - - 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 



i > 



lection of materials but what is supplied on the 
spur of the moment from the granary of our own 
mind, and beaten into shape and applied to our 
subject through the mere force of our own intellect, 
unaided by the knowledge or the experience of 
others. From this idea of it, it follows, we think 
pretty plainly, that only the possession of great 
genius, or necessity, will justify the preacher who, 
as a rule, aspires to, and contents himself with, 
this direct mode of considering and conceiving his 
subject. 

Ordinary men must be content to follow a more 
laborious and circuitous way than this. There are 
few men who are sufficiently well up in sacred 
science, or whose knowledge is sufficiently fresh 
and accurate, to enable them to sit down at once 
and compose their sermon, without some previous 
revision and reading-up of matter, and such men 
must employ the indirect method of meditating and 
conceiving their subject. 

This method consists in reading, pencil in hand, 
some approved writer on the subject which we have 
selected to treat. This lecture instructs us on those 
points on which we may be ignorant, and refreshes 
our memory on those which we had begun to forget. 
It awakens and fertilises the imagination, excites 
our zeal, inspires us with conceptions that are full 
of life, and sets the spirit of invention in full play. 
This course of reading is very different from the 
one described in the preceding chapter. Then, we 
read in order to form our style ; now, we read in 
order to acquire matter, and an insight into the 



j8 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

most striking way of presenting it, with a view to 
the actual composition of our discourse. Hence, in 
our present reading, we propose to ourselves to sift 
our subject to the very bottom, in order that we may 
put ourselves in a position to give sound, solid, and 
exact instruction upon it to our flock. We not only 
seek out and make substantial notes of all those 
ideas, passages, and practical applications with 
which we meet in our reading, but we endeavour 
still more to master and possess the general order 
of the discourse, the way in which the various ideas 
are brought out, presented, and connected with 
those which precede and those which follow. We 
study the figures, the comparisons, the strong and 
vigorous expressions which give such life to those 
ideas, and, in a word, everything which adds nerve, 
force, and beauty to the discourse. We endeavour 
to enter fully into the spirit of the writer, that thus 
our heart and our imagination may be equally set 
on fire — that we may, so to speak, be inspired by 
our subject. All this supposes, of course, that we 
know where to look for standard matter on our 
subject, and that we read with deep and serious 
attention, making short but lucid and substantial 
notes as we go along of everything that strikes us 
as peculiarly useful either to instruct, to convince, 
or to move our audience. 

We read in this manner until, to use a homely 
phrase, we feel full of our subject. Then, laying 
aside our book, we take up the notes which we 
have made during our reading, and re-read them 
face to face with our subject. We ponder seriously 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR FRE ACHING. 79 

before God on what we have read and the notes we 
have made, always of course in relation with our 
subject ; and, whilst through this deep meditation 
we become fully possessed of our matter, and make 
it, in the truest sense, our own, we at the same 
time conceive our subject in the manner described 
above, and obtain the clearest view of that which 
is to be the leading idea of our discourse — that idea 
or truth which, as we have said, is to be embodied 
in our proposition, and to the establishing of which 
all our efforts are to be directed. 

This indirect method of considering and conceiv- 
ing our subject is a little more laborious than the 
other, but it is vastly safer. Moreover a little 
practice and a little perseverance will not only 
render it easy, but as pleasing as it, most certainly, 
will be useful. 

Having thus fixed upon our subject, and having 
considered it well and deeply in the manner de- 
scribed above, we are now ready to proceed to the 
next stage of our preparation, viz., the arrange- 
ment of our matter by means of a clear, definite, 
and well-organised plan. 

Section III. 

The Arrangement of our Matter by means of 
the Plan of our Discourse. 

We have collected the substantial materials of 
which our discourse is to be composed. We have 
made a note of everything which occurred to us 
during our reading as peculiarly striking or useful 



80 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

for the purpose we have in hand. We have under 
our eye all the texts of Holy Writ, the extracts 
from the Fathers, the theological reasons, the 
proofs, the arguments, in a word, everything which 
our intellect, our heart, or our course of reading 
has suggested to us ; and, up to this point, 
we have made good progress. We possess abun- 
dant materials with which to conb^ruct our 
edifice, but we possess them in a confused mass, 
without order, regularity, or design ; and, as no 
amount of wood and stone would suffice to raise a 
material edifice unless they were put in order, and 
arranged according to the plan of the architect, so 
no amount or collection of matter will enable a 
pastor to preach a good sermon unless that matter 
be properly arranged, unless everything be put in 
its proper place and reduced to order. 

There is no way of reducing this mass of mate- 
rials to order, except by taking our pen in hand, 
and, before we begin to compose our sermon, 
making a good plan, or skeleton, of our dis- 
course. 

The plan of a discourse is, according to M. 
Bautain, the order of the things which have to be 
unfolded. It supposes, therefore, the matter to be 
unfolded (and this we have already collected in a 
confused mass), and the order in which that matter 
is to be unfolded. 

Simple as all this may seem, its importance can 
scarcely be exaggerated. There is scarcely any- 
thing which is more overlooked by ordinary 
preachers ; and we venture to say that the utter 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 8 1 

failure of so many sermons is to be attributed 
neither to poverty of matter, nor to defects of style 
and delivery, so much as to the prevailing want of 
order and method, and the consequent absence of 
any definite end, aim, or object in the discourses 
to which we listen. How many preachers are there 
who more than justify Dr. Whately's biting criti- 
cism ! " Many a wandering discourse one hears in 
which the preacher aims at nothing and hits it." 

And what is the practical consequence of this r 
Why, that as the preacher had no clear idea of what 
he wished to say, or of the order in which he wished 
to say it, his flock have still less recollection of 
what he did say. They carry away from his sermon 
no clear definite ideas on any one point, on any 
virtue to be practised and the manner of practising 
it, for the very simple reason that the discourse 
neither contained nor enunciated any such ideas. 
The preacher, indeed, may have glanced, in his 
confused and disorderly manner, at many things, 
but he has entered thoroughly into none. He has 
driven no one truth home to the hearts of his flock as 
he should have proposed to himself to do, remem- 
bering that ordinary people scarcely remember more 
than one thing at a time. An hour after his sermon 
he himself could scarcely tell you the precise subject 
on which he preached, the one idea which he strove 
to write on the hearts of his flock, and the order and 
method by which he proposed to accomplish* his end ; 
and, for the best of reasons, because he had no such 
idea or method. What wonder, then, if that flock 
have long since forgotten the sermon which he him 

6 



82 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

self no longer recollects, for the obvious reason that 
he never fully possessed or clearly expressed it. 
Such sermons — and would that they were fewer — to 
use a very homely but pointed expression, go in at 
one ear and out at the other. 

The sad end of all this is that his flock listen, 
Sunday after Sunday, to his sermons, without ob- 
taining one solid morsel of sound and lasting 
instruction, without conceiving one generous reso- 
lution of advancing in God's holy service ; whilst 
he, as he witnesses the scandals which are for ever 
showing their foul front in his parish, is obliged to 
confess, in the bitterness of his heart, that his 
ministry is a barren and a fruitless one ; that his 
words fall on a hard soil, a soil which, if he did 
but realise it, is only hard from want of cultivation ; 
that he is but as one who beats the air with empty 
words; that he is but as the tinkling brass and the 
mounding cymbal ; the unthrifty husbandman, who 
spends his whole life in sowing bad and unfruitful 
seed which never yields the increase. 

There is no way of meeting this great and com- 
mon failing of ordinary sermons, except by making 
a good plan of one's discourse. The fundamental 
quality of every good plan is unity, which we now 
proceed to consider. 

Section IV. 

Unity. 

By the unity of a discourse we mean that every- 
thing in it tends to the establishing of some one. 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 83 

precise, and clearly defined proposition which we 
propose to ourselves to impress so deeply on the 
hearts of our hearers that they cannot possibly 
escape the practical conclusions which we deduce 
from it; and that all the proofs, examples, illustra- 
tions, &c., which our sermon contains have refer- 
ence to the development of the one great leading 
truth which is embodied in this proposition. 

Unity comprises two things, unity of view, and 
unity of means. 

There is unity of view in a discourse when every- 
thing in it tends to the one common end ; when 
there is not a phrase in the sermon which is not 
expressed except with this object, and which is not 
either necessary or useful in conducting our audience 
to it ; when, in fine, from this common end as from 
a central point, we can take in the whole sermon, 
with all its ramifications, at a glance of the eye. 
Unity of view imparts this remarkable property to 
a discourse, that it reduces it to o?ie leading propo- 
sition, which is merely brought out into greater 
relief by the various ways in which it may be pre- 
sented to an audience ; or rather, as Fenelon ex- 
presses it, the discourse is merely the development 
of the proposition, and the proposition is nothing 
more than, an abridgment of the discourse. 

There is unity of means in a discourse when all 
its parts are so united, connected, and arranged, 
that the preacher advances continually on the same 
line of progressive conceptions, when it is one 
tissue of ideas and sentiments which beget and 
follow one another. In this way everything is in 



34 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

its proper place ; each truth prepares the way for, 
introduces, and sustains some other truth which has 
equal need of its support ; and, thus, they all unite 
to conduct the audience to the common end in such 
a manner, and with such an intimate and close 
connection, that no one of these leading ideas can 
be omitted without destroying the order of the 
march, no one misfitaced without weakening the force, 
and deranging the harmony of the whole discourse. 

It is scarcely necessary to prove how essential 
this unity is to every good discourse. We have 
already glanced at the evil consequences arising 
from its absence in a sermon. Certainly, unity of 
view is necessary, since everything in a discourse 
which does not tend to the common end and design 
which the preacher necessarily proposes to himself is 
merely thrown away. Disconnected and disjointed 
ideas which have no direct reference to the leading 
truth laid down in the proposition only distract the 
hearer. However ignorant he may be, he is offended 
at having extraneous matters thrust upon his notice, 
which merely cause him to lose sight of the leading 
idea and principal subject of the discourse. He 
listens with annoyance and impatience to that 
which even his limited intelligence perceives to 
have no definite connection with the subject in 
hand. He looks upon the preacher as a traveller 
who has either forgotten, or who knows not whither 
he is going. He thus loses all interest in the dis- 
course, and, naturally, receives no benefit from it. 

And it is not sufficient that what we say have 
some relation to the general end of the discourse, 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 85 

and be thus comprehended, in a degree more or less 
vague, within the unity of view. Every idea, every 
sentence that we utter, must be expressed in its 
proper place; or, in other words, unity of means is 
no less essential than unity of view. What is it 
that makes a grand edifice ? It is not a great mass 
of stones and materials, nor the heaping together of 
many parts without reference to the whole; but it 
is the just proportion of the various fabrics to one 
another, and their due arrangement so aa to form 
one harmonious whole. And, again, to use the figure 
of Quintilian, what is it that makes a strong and 
vigorous body but the union and perfect agreement 
of all the members. Displace but one member and 
the beautiful body becomes a monster. It is the 
same in a sermon. Its strength and its beauty arise, 
not from disconnected and disunited members, no 
matter how elegant they may be in themselves, but 
from the intimate relation, and the perfect agree- 
ment, of one part to another and to the whole. Its 
beauty lies in the skilful and proper placing of each 
proof and of each idea, and in the order and coher- 
ence of those ideas, which are so connected and knit 
together that no one can be omitted without causing 
a fatal gap, without destroying the vitality of the 
whole. In one word, the vigour and harmony of a 
discourse depend principally upon the order with 
which it is arranged, and the more orderly and de- 
finite it is the more perfect it is. Hence, if each idea, 
each truth, each argument, be not placed in its 
proper position, the preacher will say at the com- 
mencement that which ought not to have come in 



36 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

until the middle or end of his discourse. He will 
finish where he ought to have begun, or vice versa. 
If there be not a strict and logical sequence of 
ideas, of proofs, and of arguments in a sermon, it 
is essentially faulty. Such a discourse is without 
unity, that unity which, according to St. Augustine, 
is the principle and the form of everything that is 
beautiful. Omnis pulchritudinis forma unitas est* 
Without unity there can be no order, without order 
in a sermon, as in everything else, there can be 
nothing but darkness and confusion. 

To secure this essential unity, and its natural 
results, definiteness of view and orderly arrange- 
ment, the preacher, according to the advice of St. 
Francis de Sales, should never enter the pulpit 
without a definite design of adding some definite 
stone to the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem ; that 
is to say, he ought always to propose to himself the 
obtaining of some definite end which shall be con- 
ducive to the salvation of his audience, and, for this 
purpose, he should say to himself: "What is it pre- 
cisely that I wish to gain from my hearers ? What 
reform, what pious practice, what special virtue, do 
I aspire to inculcate ? With what dispositions, with 
what generous and specific resolutions do I seek to 
animate them?" If he do not see the answer to this 
question, as clear and definite as the question itself, 
he may be pretty certain that his discourse will be 
vague, confused, and to a great extent useless. Dr. 
Newman thus writes on this matter :f — 

• i Epis. xvlii. f University Pleaching. 



" My second remark is, that it is the preachers 
duty to aim at imparting to others, not any fortui- 
tous, unpremeditated benefit, but some definite spi- 
ritual good. It is here that design and study find 
their place ; the more exact and precise is the sub- 
ject of which he treats, the more impressive and 
practical will he be; whereas no one will carry off 
much from a discourse which is on the general 
subject of virtue, or vaguely and feebly entertains 
the question of the desirableness of attaining 
heaven, or the rashness of incurring eternal ruin. 

" Nay, I would go the length," he continues, " of 
recommending a preacher to place a distinct cate- 
gorical proposition before him, such as he can 
write down in a form of words, and to guide and 
limit his preparation by it, and to dm in all he 
says to bring it out, and nothing else. This seems 
to be implied or suggested in St. Charles's direc- 
tion : * Id omnio studebit, ut quod in concione dic- 
turus est, antea bene cognitum habeat.' Nay, is it 
not expressly conveyed in the Scripture phrase of 
'preaching the word? for what is meant by 'the 
word* but a proposition addressed to the intellect ? 
Nor will a preacher's earnestness show itself in 
anything more unequivocally than in his rejecting, 
whatever be the temptation to admit it, every re- 
mark, however original, every period, however elo- 
quent, which does not in some way or other tend to 
bring out this one distinct proposition which he 
has chosen. Nothing is so fatal to the effect of a 
sermon as the habit of preaching on three or four 
subjects at once. I acknowledge I am advancing 



88 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

a step beyond the practice of great Catholic 
preachers when I add that, even though we preach 
on only one at a time, finishing and dismissing the* 
first before we go to the second, and the second 
before we go to the third, still, after all, a practice 
like this, though not open to the inconvenience which 
confusing one subject with another involves, is in 
matter of fact nothing short of the delivery of three 
sermons in succession without break between them. 
" Summing up, then, w r hat I have been saying, I 
observe that, if I have understood the doctrine of 
St. Charles, St. Francis, and other saints aright, 
definiteness of object is in various ways the one 
virtue of the preacher ; — and this means that he 
should set out with the intention of conveying to 
others some spiritual benefit ; that, with a view to 
this, and as the only ordinary way to it, he should 
select some distinct fact or scene, some passage 
in history, some truth, simple or profound, some 
doctrine, some principle, or some sentiment, and 
should study it well and thoroughly, and first make 
it his own, or should have already dwelt on it and 
mastere'd it, so as to be able to use it for the occa- 
sion, from an habitual understanding of it ; and 
that then he should employ himself, as the one 
business of his discourse, to bring home to others, 
and to leave deep within them what he has, before 
he began to speak to them, brought home to himself. 
What he feels himself, and feels deeply, he has to 
make others feel deeply ; and, in proportion as he 
comprehends this, he will rise above the temptation 
of introducing collateral matters, and will have no 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 89 

taste, no heart, for going aside after flowers of ora- 
tory, fine figures, tuneful periods, which are worth 
nothing unless they come to him spontaneously, 
and are spoken ' out of the abundance of the heart/" 

Yes, what great leading practical truth is it which 
I wish to write upon the hearts of my people ? This 
is the question which the preacher will revolve 
again and again in his mind, prayerfully before 
God, and with an intimate conviction of its vast 
importance. It is the point upon which the whole 
success of the sermon depends. The answer which 
he is able to make to himself on this vital question 
will furnish him with the proposition of his dis- 
course. This proposition will, therefore, embody 
and briefly expose, the great leading truth which is 
the foundation of the sermon. But this truth, 
although essentially one, may, and perhaps ought 
to be presented to our audience under various points 
of view. We may, for example, employ many argu- 
ments to enforce the love of God, without ever losing 
sight of the one object ; whilst, if we introduce argu- 
ments into the same sermon on the love of our 
neighbour we sin unpardonably against unity, and 
run the risk of producing no clear and definite result. 

With these remarks on unity, the essential 
quality of every good plan, we now return to the 
more direct consideration of the plan itself. 

We have said just now that the one leading idea 
of our sermon may, and perhaps ought to be 
presented under various points of view— that it 
rests on two or three great leading proofs or argu- 
ments. We see at a glance, on carefully reading 



^0 FRUJUMAiE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

our notes, that all the arguments, comparisons, ex- 
amples, &c, which we have collected as bearing on 
our subject, can easily be arranged under two or 
three leading heads ; and the making of the plan of 
our discourse is nothing more than the taking of 
our pen in hand, and with the principle of unity 
always clearly before us, the orderly arranging of 
.our materials under these two or three leading 
heads. . These two or three leading heads form the 
members of our division, or, in other words, the 
parts of our discourse. These leading members are 
in themselves, in one sense, general propositions, 
as they are the foundation of special arguments 
and oratorical developments ; but, at the same 
time, there is such a strict coherence and connec- 
tion between them and the subject, that they re- 
solve themselves into a proposition which is still 
more general, to wit, that of the discourse. It is 
evident that the preacher, in thus arranging the 
plan of his sermon, advances, by way of analysis, 
from particular ideas to general propositions. It 
is equally evident that, in the development of the 
discourse itself, he uses the synthetical method, 
descending from the general proposition of his dis- 
course to the consideration of those minor proposi- 
tions w T hich are subordinate to it, but each of w r hich 
nevertheless possesses its own proper proofs, ideas, 
and sentiments. 

To sum up practically what we have said, the 
preacher will arrange the plan of his discourse in 
some such way as this : Having selected his sub- 
ject, having meditated and conceived it in the 



. PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING, Ot 

manner already described, he will write down the 
proposition which embodies the leading" idea of his 
sermon. Then he will arrange the members of his 
division, or the parts of his discourse, each one in 
its proper place, with its own peculiar arguments 
and oratorical developments briefly but clearly 
sketched out. Next he will select the text of Scrip- 
ture most appropriate to head his sermon. Then 
he will determine, from a general view of the whole 
discourse, what idea will most fitly introduce it ; in 
other words, he will obtain the idea of his exordium; 
•and, lastly, he will consider and note down, from 
the same general view of the whole discourse, those 
sentiments, powerful emotions, and generous reso- 
lutions with which he will seek to move his hearers 
at the close of his sermon — in other words, the 
matter of 'his peroration or conclusion. 

The leading idea, embodied and exposed in the 
general proposition — the members or parts of the 
discourse, the text, the idea of the exordium and of 
the peroration — such are the dry bones which form 
the skeleton or plan of a discourse, and, although 
not that of the actual composition, as we shall see in 
another chapter, such is the order in which they will 
have been "invented" or conceived by the preacher. 

To aid the young preacher, to render this matter 
still more plain, and to bring it home more practi- 
cally to him, we subjoin a plan of a discourse. For 
obvious reasons we have selected a trite and very 
familiar subject. The student will perceive that 
merely substantial ideas are presented, whilst the 
rhetorical filling-in of those ideas is left to each 



02 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

one's individual taste and style. He will also per- 
ceive at a glance that the whole subject, as em- 
bodied in the division, is reduced to a syllogism. A 
few words of explanation on the major of the pro- 
position, which no one will deny, may form the 
exordium or introduction. The minor furnishes 
the three points, or members of the discourse, 
whilst the peroration contains the conclusion. 



PLAN OF A SERMON ON THE IMPORTANCE OF 
ETERNAL SALVATION. 

Leading Idea. The securing of his salvation should be the great 
Text. object of every man's life. EccLs. xii. 13. Deura 

time et mandata ejus observa : hoc est enim omnis 
homo. 

Division ,' • All reasonable men labour most earnestly for that 
which is most worthy of their toil. Whether we 
consider (1) the views of God, ^2) tne actions of 
the saints, or (3) the sentiments of men at the hour 
of their death, we must admit that salvation is the 
object most worthy of the attention of every r2i» 
sonable man. Therefore — 

First Point— The Views of God. 

Why did God create us — why does 
He preserve us — why does He bear 
with us in our tepidity, our re- 
lapses, our sins ? 
Why did the Son of God become \ f our immortal 

souls 



That we may se- 
cure the salvation 



incarnate— lead a life of suffering 
— die upon the cross ? 
Why does the Holy Ghost con- 
tinually prevent us with his 
graces ? 



Eccles. xii. 13, 
Prov. xvi. 4. 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 93 



SECOND Point — The Actions of the Saints. 

Why did the saints lead lives of 
such rigorous penance — David — 
Magdalene — Anthony — Basil — 
Mary of Egypt, and so many 
others ? 

Why did the Martyrs sustain the 
greatest tortures so cheerfully 
and lay down their lives so 
readily ? 

Why have so many kings forsaken 
their crowns — so many noblemen 
their high station — so many cour- 
tiers the pomps and pleasures of 
a court — so many wealthy men 
their riches to lead lives of 
poverty and mortification ? 



That they might 
the more certainly 
\ secure the salva- 
tion of their souls. 
Eccles. i. 



Third Point — The Sentiments of Men at the 
Hour of Death. 

What are the sentiments of the 
just man at the hour of his death ? 
What does he think of the 
labours, the self-denial, the works 
of piety, in which he has spent 
his life ? 

What are the sentiments of the ^ 
sinner — what does he think of 
worldly pleasures — honours — 
riches ? 

What does he think of those sins in / 
which he has steeped his soul, 
fer which he has thrown away 
his salvation ? 



He is filled with 
joy at having done 
his best to save 
his soul. 

Ps. cxxi. 1. 



He is filled with 
horror and un- 
availing remorse 
Solomon. 
Lccles. i. 2. 



CONCLUSION — Affections and Resolutions. 

Filled with gratitude to Gad who "i 
has spared us. i 

With sorrow for our past negli- 
gence. 



Ps. cxv. 12. 
Ps. I. 



Q4 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

"With an intimate conviction of its ) „ . , 

\ Matt. xvi. 26. 
necessity. J 

We will henceforward labour with \ 
all our hearts to secure our salva- > p lxxvii 1 1 
tion. ) 

And for this end we now resolve \ 
to adopt the practical means of I 
doing so, and to employ those ) Matt ' xut * X "* 
means promptly, persevering^, I 
and efficaciously. J 

Exhortation — Prayer, 

According- to some such method as this will the 
preacher arrange the matter of his discourse. A 
plan is equally useful and equally necessary, mutatis 
mutandis, for the set sermon as for the familiar in- 
struction. Perhaps it is most necessary in the pre- 
paration of the familiar instruction; for, as this will 
be delivered to simple and ignorant people, there is 
all the greater need of order and clearness. The 
above plan has been made as simple as possible, 
but, slight as it may seem, the preacher will find 
that the development of the ideas which it suggests 
will more than occupy the half hour which an ordi- 
nary discourse should not exceed. Being on one 
of the great general subjects which the preacher 
treats from time to time, the practical conclusions 
are more general than will be the case in ordinary 
sermons, which will of course be more particular in 
their nature, and more definite in their conclusions. 
Nevertheless, the student will perceive that in the 
above plan every idea which it suggests, every ex- 
ample, and every comparison which it points out, 
tends to the establishing of the one leading idea, 



PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 95 

the necessity of labouring to secure our eternal sal- 
vation, whilst they all prepare the way for the 
practical conclusions which flow from the whole 
argumentation on the subject, viz., the resolution 
to labour henceforward with all our heart to secure 
that salvation, and for this end, the adoption of the 
means suggested by the Holy Gospel (Matt. xix. 1 7). 

The student will remember, too, that the plan of 
his discourse is to be nothing more than a. plan, or 
skeleton. It admits of no style or fine writing. All 
this will come later on when we begin the actual 
composition of our discourse. The plan is, in the 
strictest sense, the mere skeleton of the sermon, the 
rough draft which the skilful hand of the artist 
traces out in order to secure unity of view and of 
means before he begins to fill in the rich and varied 
details of his composition, before he begins to 
clothe the dry bones with living flesh and muscle. 
It should be drawn out with such exactness, and 
with such an orderly and logical distribution 
of all its parts, as will enable the writer to take in 
at a glance the one end to be gained, and the means 
of gaining it. If it secure this, no matter what 
method he may follow in drawing it up, it is a per- 
fect plan, and anything more than this it does not 
aspire to effect. 

It is scarcely necessary to add triat a sermon 
does not absolutely require to have three, or even 
two points. If the time be sufficiently employed, 
or if the subject be sufficiently developed by one 
point, it would be quite useless xo add more. The 
only thing to be borne in mind is, that if we do 



Q 6 PROXIMATE PREPARATION FOR PREACHING. 

employ two or three points they must not be ad- 
vanced in order to prove two or three different 
truths, but simply as different ways of proving and 
developing the one great truth embodied in the 
proposition of our discourse. 

It may be useful to remark that there are many 
excellent works, especially in the French language, 
which contain skeletons or plans of sermons. The 
Adjumenta Oratoris Sacri of the Rev. father 
Schouppe, S.J., and the Explanations of the Gos- 
pels for every Sunday in the year,* lately published 
by the same author, are perhaps amongst the most 
valuable and practically useful of recent publica- 
tions on this matter. The plans which these works 
contain appear to be drawn up in strict accordance 
with those conditions which have been laid down as 
essential. They are fertile in the suggestion of 
substantial ideas, which are left to be clothed in 
the peculiar language and expression of him who 
employs them. 



* "Evangelia Dominicarum ac Festorum Totius Ajani, Horailiticis 
explicationibus Illustrata, etc. etc. 




CHAPTER V. 

FIVE PRINCIPAL METHODS OF PREPARING A 
DISCOURSE. 

HERE may be said to be five principal 
methods of preparing- an instruction or 
sermon. The first of these methods is to 
commit to memory and deliver the sermon of 
another. The second method consists in merely 
tracing out, in the slightest manner, the skeleton 
of the discourse, its divisions and leading argu- 
ments. The third is substantially the same as the 
second, with the difference that it is still more 
meagre, since it supposes nothing but a few mo- 
mentb' reflection before entering the pulpit. The 
fourth consists in briefly writing what may be called 
the substance of the discourse ; indicating the prin- 
cipal ideas which it is to contain, their order and 
the transition from one to another, the affections 
proper to be excited in each particular part, the 
principal oratorical movements, and the most 
striking figures to be employed ; without, however, 
developing any of these ideas, affections, or figures, 
in writing. And the fifth consists in writing the 
whole discourse and committing it to memory, 
word for word. 

It is plain that these five methods really resolve 
themselves into two : writing with committing to 



98 FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 

memory, and preparing without penning the whole 
structure. For the greater elucidation of the matter 
we shall, however, offer a few simple remarks upon 
each of these methods of preparation. 

It is scarcely necessary to say in this place that 
we do not pretend to lay down absolute laws which 
are to bind all persons, in all circumstances what 
soever. We merely indicate those general prin- 
ciples which the great masters of sacred oratory, 
as well as experience, point out as the fittest and 
safest to be followed in ordinary circumstances 
and by ordinary persons ; leaving, as we must 
necessarily do, their application to peculiar cases 
to the prudence and experience of those who are 
actively engaged in the work of the ministry, with 
an intimate conviction that he who undertakes the 
preaching of the Gospel with that purity and sim- 
plicity of intention which alone animate the true 
servant of God, will never commit any substantial 
or long-continued mistake, either in regard to his 
style of preaching, or the nature of the preparation 
which it demands from him. 

i. We venture then to say, in the first place, that 
he who has talent to conceive, and time to compose, 
his own sermons, ought not to allow himself, at 
least at all frequently, to preach the sermons of 
another. Such a mode of action proceeds either 
from sloth, since we do not wish to undergo the 
labour and pain of composing our own discourse ; 
or from vanity, which prompts us to acquire the 
reputation of great preachers by delivering the 
sermons of celebrated men. 



FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 99 

We cannot expect that either of these motives 
will draw down upon us the blessing of God. But 
let us suppose for a moment that we are animated 
by purer motives than these. It will still be cer- 
tain that the sermons of another can never be of 
much use to us. It is almost impossible that they 
can, under the circumstances, be adapted to the 
capacity and peculiar needs of our congregation. 
It is still less likely that they will be adapted to our 
peculiar style and turn of thought, or that we can 
deliver them with natural feeling, ease, and grace. 
We have dwelt sufficiently on this point when 
treating of the practice of composition and the 
imitation of good models. A simple exhortation, 
composed according to our capacity, and delivered 
with unction and zeal, will, from the very fact that 
it is our owriy be vastly more serviceable than the 
grandest composition of another. 

Besides, it is very difficult to suppose that, some 
time or other, the plagiarism will not be disco ,ered, 
and ourselves naturally held up to the public gaze 
as men who were either too ignorant or too care- 
less to discharge the essential duties of their state : 
jackdaws, to use the familiar fable, who sought to 
clothe themselves in the peacock's feathers. It is 
much better and much more manly to attempt to 
compose our own discourses. as well as we are able. 
They will, at least, be natural, and, in as far as they 
are naturW, they will be successful. 
, Add to all this that, if we give ourselves the 
habit of delivering the sermons of another, we 
shall gradually lose the power, together with the 



100 FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 

practice, of composition ; we shall become unable 
to rely upon ourselves and upon the resources of 
our own minds for our conceptions and ideas, 
the greatest evil which can fall upon any profes- 
sional man, but, above all, upon the pastor of 
souls. 

On the other hand, it must be admitted that, 
when we have absolutely neither the time nor the 
power to compose, it is allowable to preach the 
discourses of another, provided that it be done 
simply from a motive of zeal, and with a view to 
the spiritual good of our flock, since it is evident 
that it is better that they should be thus instructed 
than left without any instruction whatsoever. This 
is as well in conformity with the advice of St. 
Augustine, as it was the practice of many bishops 
in the early dges of the Church, who caused those 
priests who were themselves unable to preach to 
read the instructions which were sent to them, in 
order that the people might not be left without that 
teaching which was necessary for them, and this 
was the origin of the instructions which are found 
m the Ritual. 

However, although it may be allowable in these 
circumstances to preach the sermons of another, 
the pastor must employ many wise precautions to 
ward off, as much as possible, the inevitable incon- 
veniences of this system. He must not select dis- 
connected fragments, still less those well-known 
and brilliant passages which would be recognised 
at once. Neither must he make choice of any 
matter on which he can lay his hand, collected 



FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. !Oi 

hither and thither, without unity and without taste. 
If he do he will be in the predicament which befell 
a certain preacher of our acquaintance, who came 
to us one day in great perplexity to consult us on 
the subject of a sermon. " I have taken great 
pains," said he, " to write out twelve or thirteen 
pages from various French sermon books, and now, 
after all my trouble, Ican'tmake them fit" But he, 
who for a just cause makes use of the sermon of 
another, must, in the first place, be careful to select 
such a one as will be best adapted to his flock, and 
equally careful to expunge from it whatever may 
not be suitable to them. He must bear in mind 
that the greater part of the sermons which are 
published, more especially those in the French 
language, having been composed for the court, or 
for great cities, are written in a style which is 
above the comprehension of simple and unlettered 
persons, and treat of vices to which in all proba- 
bility they are not subject. 

The golden rule in these circumstances is, to 
select the most simple discourses which the preacher 
can find. Not only must he be careful to choose 
such an instruction as, omnibus ftensatis, will be 
most useful to his flock, but the pastor must be 
equally careful to select such a one as will be best 
adapted to his own peculiar temperament, char- 
acter, and style. He will endeavour to become 
penetrated with those sentiments and affections 
which it may contain, in order to render them his 
own as much as possible when he delivers them. 
As we have already said, he labours under noordi- 



i02 FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 

nary difficulty in this matter, since the composition 
of another can hardly ever become perfectly natural 
in the mouth of him who thus makes use of it, 
or perfectly express his turn of thought and his 
manner of conceiving a subject ; whilst, at the same 
time, these qualities seem to be essential to suc- 
cess. Hence, in conclusion, although we have 
laid down the circumstances in which it may 
sometimes be allowable to preach the sermons 
of another, and the principal precautions which 
are to be observed in doing so, we earnestly 
recommend the young preacher never to resort 
to this expedient so long as he is able to deliver 
a discourse of his own, no matter how simple its 
style, or how elementary its character, provided 
it possess those fundamental qualities which can 
never be dispensed with — solid instruction earnestly 
delivered. 

If it be the fruit of his own honest labour God 
will surely bless the work of his hands, and render 
his simple discourse a thousand times more success- 
ful and more fruitful than those polished sentences 
and those rounded periods which may, indeed, 
issue from his lips, but which can scarcely ever, if 
ever, be uttered with that eloquence which can 
alone move — the eloquence of the heart ; — that elo- 
quence which must almost always be wanting when 
a man merely repeats the language and sentiments 
of another. 

2. We venture, in the next place, to say that 
there are very few occasions on which a clergyman 
ought to satisfy himself with merely tracing out a 



FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 103 

meagre skeleton of his discourse, simply indicating 
its divisions and the heads of its leading arguments. 
Our opinion is founded on the conviction that the 
preacher, certainly the young one, who makes no 
other preparation than this, is exposing himself to 
the imminent ri^k of preaching the divine word in 
such a manner as will neither be worthy of his 
ministry, nor useful to souls. There are very few 
preachers who can reasonably promise themselves 
that, with such a preparation as this, they will be 
able to address their people solidly or clearly, or 
impart to their discourse that order, interest, and 
force, which are due alike to the dignity of the 
Word of God and the salvation of souls. They are 
much more likely to be overwhelmed with that 
sterility of mind, dryness of heart, and utter absence 
of everything like vigour or force, which will 
render their sermon useless, perhaps even worse 
than useless. 

3. Even supposing a clergyman to be bond fide 
unable to write his discourse, or exempt, by his 
talents or experience, from doing so, we do not 
think it sufficient simply to meditate on his subject 
for a few moments before entering the pulpit. He 
should, moreover, carefully determine the matter of 
his discourse, the plan and whole order of its 
arrangement. 

This is merely a development of the idea laid 
down in the preceding section, viz., that it is 
almost impossible to speak with such a prepara- 
tion, or, more strictly, with such an absence of it, 
as was there indicated, without failing in the 



104 FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 

respect due to God and our ministry ; without fall- 
ing into inextricable disorder and confusion. 

If we are not able to write our discourse, the very 
least we can do is, to spare no effort that is possible 
under the circumstances, to secure order and me- 
thodical arrangement, to give expression to some 
ideas that may be solid, and some sentiments that 
may be becoming, to bring some appropriate pa - 
sages of Scripture to bear upon our subject, and to 
confine ourselves within such limits as may be fit- 
ting, since diffuseness is one of the most common 
and trying failings of those who speak without 
careful preparation. 

It is true that Fenelon, in one of his dialogues on 
the eloquence of the pulpit, seems to write in com- 
mendation of those who preach without having 
written their discourse; but, as we shall show in 
the next section, we equally agree with him in the 
sense in which he speaks, and under the restrictions 
which he employs. As he himself says, he speaks 
of "a man who is well instructed, and who has a 
great facility of expressing himself; a man who has 
meditated deeply, in all their bearings, the prin- 
ciples of the' subject which he is to treat; who 
has conceived that subject in his intellect and 
arranged his arguments in the clearest manner ; 
who has prepared a certain number of striking 
figures and of touching sentiments, which may 
render it sensible and bring it home to his hearers ; 
who knows perfectly all that he ought to say, and 
the precise place in which to say it, so that nothing 
remains, at the moment of delivery, but to find 



FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 10$ 

words with which to express himself." As we shall 
presently show, this is, for certain persons, and 
with certain restrictions, a most excellent manner 
of preparing an instruction ; but it differs very 
widely from that which consists in merely meditat- 
ing on our matter for a few moments before enter- 
ing the pulpit. Hence, 

4. We admit that after a person has written his 
sermons for some years, and thus acquired a pro- 
found and at the same time expedite knowledge of 
the mysteries of our Holy Faith, together with an 
ease and facility of speaking in public, it is not 
only allowable, but it may be even more advisable 
to be content with that summary preparation 
which consists in writing what may be called the 
substance of the discourse, indicating the leading 
ideas which it is to contain, their order and the 
transition from one to another, the affections proper 
to be excited in each particular part, the principal 
oratorical movements and the most striking figures 
to be employed, without, however, developing these 
ideas, affections, or figures in writing. 

We will briefly state the reason on which we rely 
for this assertion. We take it for granted that the 
extemporary sermon, in -the true sense of the word 
(and in another part of this work we shall show 
that the true meaning of an extemporary sermon 
is not, as is generally understood, a discourse de- 
livered without preparation, but a discourse care- 
fully prepared as to its substance, although not 
written out in all its parts), will be as a general rule, 
and with the necessary qualifications, positis po- 



io6 FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 

nendis, more successful than one which is written 
and delivered from memory. The written sermon 
delivered from memory must always be, to a certain 
extent, stiff and formal. The extemporary sermon, 
on the other hand, is delivered with an earnestness 
which proves that we speak the language of con- 
viction, and with a warmth which goes at once to 
the hearts of our hearers. The preacher who de- 
livers from memory a sermon which he has written, 
always has, with some rare exceptions, the ap- 
pearance of a schoolboy repeating a task, more or 
less perfectly, since it is very uncommon, indeed, to 
find anyone who thoroughly overcomes this almost 
inevitable inconvenience of such a system. The 
extemporary discourse is delivered in such a natural 
manner as gains the confidence of our hearers, di- 
verts their attention from the mere form of our 
matter, and turns it full upon its substance, thus 
disposing them to profit more deeply and effica- 
ciously by our instruction. The preacher, being 
released from the necessity of keeping a constant 
and strained watch upon the mere words of his 
discourse, lest he forget them, and with them lose 
the whole thread of his argument, is at once more 
free and more vigorous in his action. He is able to 
give the rein to his zeal and yet keep it within due 
limits. His words, springing immediately and on 
the spur of the moment from his heart, are living 
and full of energy. The warmth with which he is 
animated imparts to his figures and his sentiments 
an earnestness, reality, and depth, which they would 
have acquired from no amount of mere technical 



FIVE METHODS OE PREPARING A DISCOURSE. iO? 

study. He is at liberty to proportion his discourse 
to the effect which he wishes to produce ; he is able 
to follow and keep pace with that impression ; to 
insist upon, and devei3p still more forcibly, those 
points which he perceives to have struck home : 
to present in other shapes, and under more sensible 
forms, those which he perceives to have fallen short 
of their aim. These constitute some of the prin- 
cipal advantages which the extemporary possesses 
over the sermon written and delivered from me- 
mory: for, of course, we make no mention of that 
which is merely read from a book. In no sense of 
the word can such a performance be called a sermon, 
neither will the taste of the present day, whatever 
may have been the custom of former times, tolerate 
it. It is tedious in the extreme, and it must be 
practically useless, since it is next to impossible 
that it can be adapted to either preacher or con- 
gregation. 

Whilst, however, the extemporary sermon, as we 
understand it, has its decided advantages, it is also 
exposed to some inconveniences of a very serious 
character. These are principally a want of cor- 
rectness, either in doctrine or composition, and a 
want of order. These inconveniences are met by 
the qualities of age, of talents, and of experience, 
which we require in those who may justly essay to 
speak with merely that summary or substantial 
preparation which we have attempted to describe 
under this heading. But, as these qualities, so 
essential and indispensable, not merely to success, 
but to absolute correctness of doctrinal teaching, 



IoS FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 

can scarcely be expected to be found in the ecclesi- 
astical student, or young preacher, we venture to 
advance another proposition, viz : 

5. That it is necessary to write our sermons, or 
at least the greater number of them, and commit 
them to memory in the way to be hereafter ex- 
plained, until such time as we shall have treated 
the principal mysteries of the faith, shall have ac- 
quired an expedite, clear, and solid knowledge ot 
Christian doctrine, together with a great facility 
of delivering it to others in an easy, pleasing, and, 
above all, earnest manner. 

This proposition requires very little explanation 
at our hands, since all that has been advanced in 
this chapter has tended, either directly or in- 
directly, to the development or establishment of it. 
We have enforced to the best of our ability the 
absolute necessity of preparation, and, in develop- 
ing the various methods of preparing, we have 
substantially proved that this is the only one on 
which we can rely, or which is really worthy the 
name, so far at least as the young preacher is con- 
cerned. In conclusion, we will merely glance once 
more at the immense disadvantages to which the 
young preacher who follows any other method 
exposes himself. 

Let him be quite certain, there are very few 
young clergymen whose talent is sufficiently cul- 
tivated, or who possess such experience, as fits 
them to preach the word of God in a becoming and 
effective manner, without first writing their ser- 
mon. As a general rule, those who attempt to do 



FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 1 09 

so speak without exactness, precision, order, or 
plan , of course they may succeed in talking, but 
we speak of the preaching of God's word, as God 
expects it to be done. If they have any plan what 
ever in their discourse they frequently lose sight of 
it by tedious and worse than useless digressions. 
At one time they weary their hearers by their vain 
prolixity, at another put them to pain and confu- 
sion by their laboured efforts to find expression ; 
and thus the discourse, having neither solidity of 
matter nor grace of delivery to recommend it, 
brings neither glory to (jod nor advantage to 
souls. 

Even supposing the young preacher to possess 
in radice the faculty of speaking well, let him be 
convinced that he must be content to develop it in 
the commencement by writing. No matter how 
brilliant his talent, or keen his intellect, he will not 
be able to cultivate the one or the other in the most 
profitable manner except by a good deal of labo- 
rious committing of his conceptions to paper, and 
a still more laborious working of them out. This 
may, of course, impose some restraint upon his 
imagination, and impart some momentary stiffness 
to his style and delivery. But these are merely 
transitory blemishes. They will melt away before 
the warmth of his growing genius, and of the 
talents which have been thus carefully nurtured 
and developed, till, in a short time, not a vestige 
of them will remain ; whilst, on the other hand, if, 
to save himself trouble, or through natural disin- 
clination, he shirk this necessary labour in the 



I IO FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 

beginning, no amount of polish or mere facility will 
ever supply the want of that order, solidity, and 
clearness which must be acquired in youth, if ever, 
and which is only acquired in the manner we have 
described. 

Hence it is that we impress so strenuously upon 
ecclesiastical students to turn the years of their 
college course to the very best account, since this 
is their golden opportunity as regards the study of 
sacred eloquence. Hence it is that we impress upon 
them again and again to bear in mind during their 
season of probation, and during the first years of 
their priesthood, the wise advice of Cicero, Caput 
est, quamplurimum scribere. 

And now let us glance for a moment at the great 
advantages of this system of careful and accurate 
preparation. 

In the first place, it enables the preacher to lay 
up a fund of most useful and essential matter, 
which he will find it most difficult, if not impossible, 
to acquire later on in life; since he who does not 
write in the commencement, and until he has 
treated the greater portion of the mysteries and 
doctrine of our holy Faith, loses the principal fruit 
of his studies and of his labours, and each time that. 
he begins to prepare a sermon he has to commence 
anew from the very foundation — a labour which, 
as he advances in life, he is very unlikely to un- 
dertake, but which is none the less essential on 
that account. .__ 

In the second place, by thus preparing himself, 
the young preacher perfects, nourishes, and de- 



FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 1 1 1 

velops the talent for preaching which Almighty 
God may have bestowed upon him, in a higher 
or lower degree, according to his good pleasure, 
but with the intention and sole purpose that the 
talent, whatever it be, which He has entrusted to 
his servant be turned to the very best account. 

In obliging himself to write, the young preacher, 
as we have alreadv shown, obliges himself to ex- 
press his ideas in the most correct manner. He 
sharpens the powers of his intellect in thus com- 
pelling himself to arrange his thoughts in orderly and 
logical coherence, and to render his reasoning closer 
and more precise, whilst he cultivates .and develops 
his taste by attending to the perfect harmony and 
beauty of the general march of his discourse, to the 
purity of its style, to the justness of its conception, 
and to the elegance of its expression. The more 
he studies his subject, as a natural consequence, 
the more perfectly he treats it ; and thus, after a 
little labour, painful perhaps in the beginning, and 
a little diligent care never to speak without such 
preparation as becomes the Master whom he serves 
and the holy work entrusted to his hand, he will by 
degrees, quickly and almost insensibly, acquire the 
liabit of speaking well, of preaching the word of 
God in dignity and in power without effort and 
without labour, except such as that which a right- 
minded and conscientious man will ever bestow 
upon any work which he undertakes, or is bound to 
discharge for God. 

Let him neglect to take this necessary trouble, to 
undergo this essential labour in the commencement 



112 FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 

of his ecclesiastical career, and he will never repair 
the injury which he will thus inflict upon the acci- 
dental glory of God, upon the eternal interests of 
his own immortal soul, and the souls of those for 
whom he must answer before the judgment-seat < f 
Christ. When disinclination or any human or un- 
becoming motive may tempt him to omit this 
labour, to shirk this, perhaps, painful preparation, 
let him think of the dreadful day to come when he 
shall not dare to look upon his Master's face unless 
he can say with the Apostle of the Nations, Mundus 
sum a sanguine omnium ; non enim subterfugi quo- 
minus annuntiarem omne consilium Dei vobis.* 

To sum up, then, in a few words. Whilst we 
admit that there are some who may not require a 
more elaborate preparation, in order to preach well, 
than such a one as we have described under No. 4 
of this chapter, we take it for granted that the 
young preacher will, during the first years of his 
ministry, write at least a considerable number of 
his sermons. The lectures in this work have been 
drawn up and prepared under this supposition, and 
primarily with a view to aid the student or young 
preacher in composing his discourse. At the same 
time, it is hoped that they will be scarcely less 
useful to those who, from age, experience, or talent, 
may be excused from such a formal method of pre- 
paration ; since these, equally with those, will care- 
fully arrange the plan of their discourse and secure 
its essential unity, follow the same rules of argu- 

* Acts, XX, 26, 



FIVE METHODS OF PREPARING A DISCOURSE. 1 1 3 

mentation, and adopt the same means of persuasion. 
The only difference will be that the young preacher 
will, for the reasons assigned, reduce his ideas to 
written words, whilst his elder in the ministry will 
content himself with a more purely mental develop- 
ment of his conceptions, and will trust, at least 
substantially, to the inspiration of the moment for 
the spoken words with which to express them. 

Such, so far as we have been able to collect and 
interpret them, are the leading principles laid down 
by the great masters of sacred eloquence on this 
matter of the necessity, and the various methods, of 
preparing a discourse. It is neither our province 
nor our wish to dogmatise on this subject, any more 
than it would be becoming in us to pretend to lay 
down general laws which should suffer no excep- 
tions. We necessarily confine ourselves to this 
brief, and what we believe to be correct, exposition 
of these general principles, leaving their special 
application to the prudence, discretion, and, above 
all, to the earnest zeal of the pastor of souls. 




CHAPTER VI. 

THE PROPER TIME IN WHICH TO WRITE. 

iAVING fixed upon his subject, having 
studied it deeply and collected a mass of 
matter bearing upon it, having by a skilful 
and orderly plan secured unity of view and unity of 
means, the young" preacher now proceeds to a most 
essential part of his preparation, to one on which 
his success principally depends, viz., the actual 
composition of his sermon, the perfect rendering in 
words of those vigorous ideas which he has already 
conceived, and of those deep emotions which his 
subject has already called into being. I? is now 
that he is to impart to his discourse proportion and 
harmony, grace and strength, dignity and unction. 
It is now that he is to paint nature, and to animate 
his figures with a living soul. It is now that, by 
the charms of his style, he is to clothe his skeleton 
in robes so rich and pure as may render his sermon 
truly efficacious to instruct, to please, and to move 
his audience to the practice of all Christian virtue 
in its highest degree. To secure this happy result 
he must follow certain practical rules, ever bearing 
in mind that his object is, not to form a purely arti- 
Pids system, but to perfect that which flows from 



and is founded in nature, and to raise it to its 
highest pitch of excellence. 

i. The skilful orator never writes except when his 
heart is warmed to his work, and he feels full of it. 
To wish to compose when the intellect, the heart, 
and the imagination are silent, when we feel our- 
selves cold, sterile, or without inclination for this 
kind of work, is simply to lose our time, to break 
our head without any result. 

It is impossible to succeed, or to attain any de- 
gree of excellence, unless we write fervente calamo^ 
when our heart is full of our subject, when we feel 
an irresistible impulse, so to speak, to give expres- 
sion to those ideas which are burning within our 
breasts, and to act upon our fellow-men. This, and 
this alone, is the time when a man can write with 
vigour, and give expression to thoughts which will 
move the hearts of his hearers to their very depths. 
It is then that words pour upon him, and the 
richest colours flow from his pencil. Hence it is 
that the skilful orator writes down on the instant 
whatever his intellect, his heart, his imagination, 
his sensibility suggests to him as particularly use- 
ful, striking, or moving on his subject. He develops 
these ideas according to the inspiration of the 
moment, without troubling* himself about mere cor- 
rectness of style. He seizes those happy moments 
of inspiration when the soul, full even to overflow- 
ing with its subject, seems to solicit him to give ex- 
pression to the ideas and sentiments with which it is 
penetrated, whilst the heart, all on fire, dictates the 
composition which he seems rather to receive than 



Il6 THE PROPER TIME IN WHICH TO WRITE. 

to produce, and which he receives in such abundance 
that the pen can scarcely keep pace with the rapidity 
of his thoughts. 

The greatest orator is the man who best knows 
how to seize these happy moments and turn them 
to greatest account. That which is composed in 
these favourable circumstances is worth more than 
hours of laboured writing and of studied diction, 
because it is the fruit of a heart that is deeply 
moved ; and when the heart of the preacher is thus 
moved it will speak to the hearts of his hearers 
with a force, a reality, and a fruit, which all the 
rules of rhetoric could never teach it. 

It is most essential, then, when we feel ourselves 
thus happily moved by our subject, not to allow 
our intellect to become distracted, or our heart to 
grow cold, but to turn to the utmost profit the 
precious moments which, once lost, may never 
return. To guard against this danger of growing 
cold, and of losing our grasp upon our subject, we 
should write down rapidly everything that presents 
itself to us, without troubling ourselves about the 
exactness or the finish of our expressions, without 
occupying ourselves unduly about the rules of 
rhetoric, the polish of our style, or the elegance of 
our words. The great thing is to seize the thought \ 
and whilst the fire of inspiration is burning within 
our breasts, to nourish it more and more eagerly, 
that we may make it efficacious for procuring the 
glory of God and the salvation of immortal souls. 
If we neglect to grasp this happy thought at the 
fitting moment it may never recur to us, whilst de- 



THE PROPER TIME IN WHICH TO WRITE. II ; 

fects of style and inelegances of expression can 
readily be repaired at any time during the revision 
and correction of our composition. 

The writer will hardly secure this inspiration, as 
we have called it, this happy moving of the deepest 
powers of his soul, without writing for a good while 
at one sitting. Some young writers seem to think 
that it is sufficient to devote any odd moments, any 
spare half-hours, to the composition of their ser- 
mons. No mistake could be more fatal to success 
than this. Even those most versed in composition 
require to write some time before they warm to their 
subject, before they are thoroughly inspired by it. 
We venture to say that the greatest orators who 
have moved the hearts of men would have laughed 
at the idea of composing their sermons in spare 
half-hours. How foolish, then, for mere novices 
to aspire to a success which the very masters in 
Israel could not have achieved by such means ! 

We venture also to say to the young writer, that 
it is scarcely worth his while to sit down to his desk 
unless he can secure at least an hour or two at one 
sitting. In odd moments, at spare half-hours, he 
may of course compose a certain number of cold 
sentences, and string together a certain amount 
of vapid ideas and empty platitudes. Let him not 
flatter himself that it is thus that he can conceive 
those burning thoughts, those convincing reasons, 
those deep emotions, which, setting his own heart 
on fire, will impart some portion of its flame to the 
hearts of his hearers, and thus secure the highest, 
the holiest, and the noblest ends of sacred oratory. 



ti8 THE PROPER TIME IN WHICH TO WRITE. 

If he hope to succeed by any such half-and-half 
preparation, he is but miserably, deceiving himself, 
and laying up a store of future failure, of bitter 
disappointment, and, worst of all, of utter useless- 
ness in the service of God ; so far, at least, as one 
of the most important means of advancing those 
sacred interests which his Master has placed in 
his hands is concerned. 

2. It is in prayer and meditation that the 
preacher seeks to fill himself with his subject, and 
to acquire that true warmth of feeling and expres- 
sion which alone become the Christian orator. If, 
after prayerful consideration of his subject, he find 
himself cold and insensible, he will defer his com- 
position to some more favoured time. That which 
will not come at one moment may come at another, 
and come in abundant profusion. 

3. Written composition ought to be distinguished 
principally by clearness, purity, and variety. 

By clearness we understand that quality which 
renders a composition perfectly lucid in conception 
and in expression, in argumentation and in the 
general order and connection of the whole ; so that 
it is presented to the mind, even of the illiterate 
and simple, in such a manner as to be perfectly 
intelligible, without obscurity or mistiness. 

It is pure when it is written according to the 
approved rules of rhetoric, both as regards compo- 
sition and style. 

There is a variety when the style is modified in 
accordance with the subject treated, and the differ- 
ent parts of the discourse. Thus, in the simple 



THE PROPER TIME IN WHICH TO WRITE, 1 19 

explanation of principles the style should be plain 
and unadorned ; flowing and unembarrassed in nar- 
ration, nervous and close in argument, strong and 
rapid in the appeal to the passions. Subjects 
which are full of feeling do not admit of a pompous 
or laboured style, but one which embraces senti- 
ment and pathos. Subjects which have their in- 
spiration in the imagination, strictly so called, find 
their expression in a polished, picturesque, and 
figurative style. Grand subjects require the grand 
style ; that which has its foundation in the great- 
ness of the preacher's soul, and the elevated tone 
of his sentiments ; that which displays lofty 
thoughts, deep emotions, and beautiful figures, 
expressed in corresponding language. Simple 
subjects rely for their effect solely upon justness 
of thought, neatness of composition, and absence 
of any apparent effort to please. This variety 
must flow from, and find its inspiration in, nature. 
When we perceive that it is failing, and our com- 
position is becoming monotonous and dull, it is 
well to lay our pen aside for a little while and 
betake ourselves to meditation, that we may re- 
kindle the sacred fire of inspiration, and thus im- 
part to every thought that character and warmth 
which alone can render it telling anc} efficacious. 
As we shall treat of the style of pulpit eloquence 
in a special chapter, it would be useless to enter 
more fully into this question at present. 




CHAPTER VII. 

INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

ICERO, and most of the older rhetoricians, 
assign six parts to an oration : — Exordium, 
Narration ; Proposition, includingDivision ; 
Proof, Refutation, and Peroration, or Pathetic 
Part. Many of the formal sermon writers of the 
last century follow the same order, which is also 
that laid down by Blair in his Lectures on Belles 
Lettres. We shall adopt a division which, although 
more simple, is for all practical purposes, mutatis 
mutandis, substantially the same, and describe a 
sermon as composed of three leading parts : — I. 
Exordium, or Introduction ; II. The Body of the 
Discourse, or Argumentative Part ; and, III. The 
Pathetic Part, or Peroration. We lay these down 
as the essential parts of a sermon, and by a sermon, 
too, we understand in this place a " set sermon," 
or formal discourse. 

We do not pretend to say that a preacher is 
bound, or that it is even desirable, to deliver " set 
sermons " on every occasion. Still, there are many 
occasions when such a discourse is expected by a 
congregation, and is due to them ; and as those 
familiar instructions which will be delivered on 
ordinary Sundays differ from the u set sermon/' not 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 12 I 

in the substantial order of their arrangement, but in the 
greater simplicity of their style and manner of treat- 
ment, we lay these down as the essential parts of 
every discourse, in genere, since the familiar instruc- 
tion, equally with the "set sermon," will comprise an 
introduction, an instructive and argumentative part, 
and an effort at persuasion, or the moving of our 
audience to the adoption of good resolutions, which 
is the special object of the peroration or pathetic 
part. With these preliminary remarks we now 
proceed to the consideration of the parts or mem- 
bers of a discourse. 

The exordium or introduction comprises three 
leading points, the Text, the Exordium, strictly so 
called, or Introduction of the subject, and the Pro- 
position, developed when necessary, by means of 
the Division. 

Section I. 
Text. 

The custom of placing a text of Holy Scripture 
at the head of our discourse comes down to us from 
the earliest ages of the Church. In opening our 
sermon with a passage from Holy Writ we, as it 
were, present our credentials to our flock, and pro- 
claim our right to speak as the ambassadors of 
Him whose word it is, whilst at the same time 
we secure for ourselves and our discourse an amount 
of reverent attention which no mere words of our 
own could possibly gain. It is evident that the 
text is not to be chosen at hazard, but with care 



\Z2 IKTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

and discretion, and in accordance with the following 
practical rules : — 

i. The text ought to contain in substance the 
subject as well as the division of the discourse, 
either in formal terms or in consequences which can 
easily be deduced. It ought to be, in other words, 
the foundation on which the whole development is 
to be raised, the germ of the whole discourse ; so 
that, after hearing it announced, we can understand, 
in a general manner, what is to be the subject of 
the preacher's sermon. 

2. The text ought to have a natural, not a forced, 
relation to the subject of the sermon. As far as pos- 
sible this relation should be literal, since, if the text 
be allegorical, it requires a long, tedious, and often 
strained explanation, which not merely wearies 
the audience, but trespasses unpardonably upon 
the body of the discourse. There are, of course, 
circumstances in which a literal application of the 
text is less necessary, and some where it is not 
possible, as, for example, in panegyrics, funeral 
orations, and certain moral subjects. 

3. The text should be announced, simply and 
faithfully, as it stands in Holy Writ, without para- 
phrase or application. There is another time and 
place for this when it is necessary. 

Section II. 

Exordium strictly so called. 

After the simple announcement of his text the 
preacher passes on at once to his exordium, strictly 
so called. The exordium is merely a becoming intro- 



INTRODUCTION Or THE DISCOURSE. 1 23 

duction of the subject ; and it has for its object to 
dispose our audience to receive favourably that 
which we are about to say, that thus we may gain 
their good-will, excite their interest, and secure 
their attention, with, of course, the view of their 
ultimate conviction and persuasion, and from this 
idea of it we can easily conclude that a good exor- 
dium is a matter of great importance. 

We ail know how much depends in the ordinary 
affairs of life upon first impressions. The success 
of his sermon often depends upon the first impres- 
sions which a preacher makes upon his hearers in 
his exordium. If these impressions be favourable 
his audience will listen to the remaining part of his 
discourse with pleasure and attention, and, conse- 
quently, with profit. If he turn them against him 
in the very commencement, he will find it most 
difficult, if not impossible, to recover the ground 
which he has lost through the bad taste displayed 
in his exordium, or through his inexperience in 
not introducing his subject in a more becoming 
manner. 

According to Cicero, the object of the exordium 
is to render our hearers, benevolos, attentos, et do- 
cites; and, although it is true that in many in- 
stances our hearers may be already well-disposed 
and prepared to listen not only with attention and 
good feeling but also with docility to him who 
speaks to them in the sacred name of religion, on 
the other hand, the matter to be introduced to their 
notice is so serious in itself, and of such vast im- 
portance to them, whilst the sacrifice of human 



124 INTRODUCTION" OF THE DISCOURSE. 

interests and of unworthy passions which the 
Christian preacher necessarily demands from his 
flock is so painful to flesh and blood as to require, 
as an ordinary rule, to be brought under their notice 
with a certain amount of skilful introduction. The 
preacher will gain his end by the discreet and judi- 
cious application of a few very simple and obvious 
rules. 

i. In the first place, the sermon must be opened, 
and the subject introduced, with modesty. There is 
nothing which so powerfully prejudices an audience 
against a preacher as any appearance of presump- 
tion or self-conceit in him — any air of bravado, 
which seems to indicate that he is either above or 
reckless of the opinion which his hearers may en- 
tertain of him — any air of affected elegance, which 
displays itself in the arrangement of his surplice 
or the careful placing of his handkerchiei on the 
front of the pulpit, as if in readiness to wipe away 
the tears which are presently to flow. 

Little weaknesses of this kind, which are simply 
manifestations of the natural man, are very fatal 
to a preacher. Our audience expect us to be above 
such trifling. They come, as a general rule, pre- 
pared to look upon us as men of God, and if at the 
commencement of our discourse, we destroy the 
illusion by the absurd display of some little petty 
vanity, we inflict an irreparable injury upon our- 
selves and our ministry. One of the most common 
forms which this " naturalness,'' so to call it, takes 
is the introduction of ourselves into our exordium. 
It is seldom that a man so far forgets himself, or is 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 1 25 

so far deluded, as to speak in open praise of him- 
self and his qualifications for his task, but it is not 
uncommon to hear a preacher expressing regret 
that his subject had not fallen into abler hands — 
hands better fitted to do it justice. Now this is 
simply a refinement of self-love, it is simply fishing 
for praise with a hook baited with false humility. 
It is, as we remember to have seen it styled by an 
old writer, humilitas cum hamo. Our audience see 
through the flimsy veil at a glance, and their 
respect and reverence for us are lowered at once. 
They know that the man who has a due conception 
of the greatness of his office, the man who, like St. 
Paul, preaches only Jesus Christ and Him crucified, 
has no time, and less inclination, to preach him- 
self, to endeavour to exalt himself by an affected 
humility. 

The only safe and general rule that we can ven- 
ture to give the young preacher on this point is, 
never to speak of himself, good or bad, in the pulpit, 
and, least of all, to do so in his exordium. We do 
not mean to say, of course, that this rule suffers no 
exceptions ; but the circumstances in which he can 
introduce any mention of himself into his exordium 
are so rare, and require to be managed with so 
much dexterity, whilst they suppose so much real 
modesty and unaffected simplicity in a preacher, 
that we cannot venture to point them out. On the 
other hand, talent and virtue are set off to the 
greatest advantage by modesty. It imparts a cha- 
racter of simplicity to the preacher which opens 
the way to persuasion, by exciting the interest and 



126 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE 

conciliating the good will of his audience. It is a 
testimony of the consideration in which the preacher 
holds his hearers ; and they, naturally being pleased 
to be thus esteemed, listen to him with favour, and 
are predisposed to be convinced even before he has 
well begun to speak. 

2. The exordium ought to be brief, that is to say, 
it ought to go promptly and directly to its end, 
which is a general introduction of the whole sub- 
ject. Ordinarily it admits of no details, arguments, 
proofs, or figures, except those of a simple nature. 
In familiar discourses, it is nothing more than a 
brief and plain explanation of the text, or gospel of 
the day, with the consequent deduction of the pro- 
position. This brevity is of course relative, since 
the introduction must have a due proportion to the 
rest of the discourse. Experienced writers say that 
the exordium should not be more than one-eighth 
of the whole sermon. 

3. The exordium ought to be simple. It admits 
of no grand figures or laboured oratorical display. 
As our audience are supposed to be calm and un- 
moved in the commencement of our sermon, it is 
only becoming to address them in a manner which 
is in consonance with their feelings. As the sun 
does not attain his meridian splendour but by de- 
grees, so the preacher must proceed gradually until, 
at the close of his discourse, he reaches the most 
elevated heights of oratory. Gravitatis filurimuwi, 
splendoris et concinnitatis minimum* is the ad- 

*De Orat., lib, ii, 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. I 2 'J 

vice of Cicero in regard to the introduction of a 
discourse. 

Any display of art or showy oratory in the exor- 
dium is attended with two great inconveniences : — It 
makes our hearers suspect that we seek to please 
rather than to convert, to satisfy our own vanity 
rather than save their souls, and by amusing and 
distracting them too much it incapacitates them, 
to a certain extent, for a due relish of the solid food 
which is to be placed before them in the body of 
the discourse. Many of Dr. Newman's sermons 
furnish admirable models of this simple and un- 
affected manner of introducing a subject. 

There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. The 
first is, when the preacher or his hearers are already 
inspired with elevated sentiments and deep emo- 
tions, which have been called into existence by 
some great event on which he is about to address 
them. Such, for example, would be the funeral 
oration of some illustrious personag'e, the panegyric 
of some great saint, or the recurrence of any of the 
principal festivals of the year. On such occasions 
as these our audience are already filled with the 
great thoughts which arise instinctively within 
their breasts, and hence, if the preacher were to 
commence his discourse in the plain language and 
simple manner which befit the ordinary sermon, he 
would not be in accordance with the sentiments 
and dispositions of his hearers. Always supposing 
that he is able to master it (and if he be not he will 
not attempt to use it) these occasions admit, and 
demand, the employment of the Grand Exordium -~ 



128 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

that which, according to Cicero, possesses orna- 
ment um et dignitatem. 

As the subject which it introduces is great, noble, 
and impressive, the Grand Exordium is distin- 
guished by elevated thoughts, majestic language, 
and beautiful figures. We have a very striking 
illustration of this sort of exordium in Bossuet's 
funeral oration for the Queen of England, which we 
give amongst the examples at the end of this 
section. 

It is only after a deep and serious consideration 
of his powers that the preacher, and especially the 
young one, will venture to employ the Grand Ex- 
ordium. He will remember that there is but one 
step between the sublime and the ridiculous. If he 
aim at the sublime without attaining it he will 
hardly escape becoming ridiculous by his failure. 
He will remember, too, that in adopting the Grand 
Exordium he imposes on himself, not merely the 
necessity of sustaining the same lofty train of 
thought and majesty of language, but the obliga- 
tion of increasing in dignity and power as he 
proceeds in his discourse. Ut semper crescat augea~ 
turqaeoratio. Hence, remembering that those very 
circumstances which will render his success, if he 
attain it, more glorious, will also render his failure 
more glaring, the prudent preacher will be very 
slow in attempting the Grand Exordium. 

The second exception is when circumstances 
demand the employment of the Abrupt Exordium. 
There are occasions when an audience are moved 
in the very depths of their souls by indignation, 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. I2Q 

grief, or some other violent passion. Were a 
preacher, under these circumstances, to commence 
his address in the collected manner and the plain 
style and language of the Simple Exordium, his 
hearers would turn from him with disgust and 
impatience. If he venture to address them on, such 
an occasion, or if duty oblige him to do so, he 
must throw himself into their circumstances, in- 
flame himself with their excited feelings, and, like 
the war-horse rushing to the fray, plunge at once 
into the midst of his subject. He uses only the 
language of strong passion, that language which 
is the expression of vehement feeling, of a soul 
that is beyond the control of everything save 
those deep emotions which move him in such 
wondrous manner, which display themselves in 
the fire of his eye, in the strong, bold energy of 
his bearing, in the very roughness of his unchosen 
words. 

It is impossible > to lay down any rules for this 
kind of exordium, since it is evident that the man 
who employs it boiid Jide, and not as a mere piece 
of acting, is beyond the control of any set rules, or 
of any influence save that of the feelings by which 
he is swayed. There are few occasions on which 
the Christian orator is called to employ such an in- 
troduction to his discourse, fewer still on which he 
should venture to do so. Perhaps the most strik- 
ing, as well as best known, examples of the Abrupt 
Exordium are furnished by the opening of Cicero's 
first and fourth orations against Cataline. 

The only other exception which we need notice 

9 



130 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

is the Exoraium by Insinuation. It sometimes 
happens that a preacher has to encounter disposi- 
tions in his audience which are anything but 
favourable to him, or to attack an inveterate pre- 
judice, to dispel a common error, or enter the lists 
with a skilful and powerful adversary. In these 
and similar cases, since his subject is almost cer- 
tain to be unpopular, the orator cannot venture to 
introduce it at once and without further preface to 
his audience. He applies himself, in the first place, 
to conciliate their good will and remove their 
prejudices, to soothe their feelings and calm their 
anger, to gain possession of their minds and enlist 
their sympathies, and thus indirectly to prepare 
the way for the introduction of the obnoxious sub- 
ject. It is seldom that a Christian preacher has 
any necessity to use this exordium. It is fitly 
employed in a controversial sermon, whenever it is 
expedient to preach one ; and in some other cir- 
cumstances which so rarely occur that, when they 
do, the preacher's common sense will be a better 
guide to him than any formal rules which we could 
point out. 

"With these exceptions, the introduction of a dis- 
course is essentially simple both in composition, 
style, and delivery. 

4. The exordium must have an essential relation 
to the subject of the discourse. In other words, it 
must necessarily lead us to it, and must bear the 
same relation to the body of the discourse as the 
human head has to the body on which it is placed. 
Those general introductions which will suit one 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 131 

discourse just as well as another are essentially 
faulty. Without anticipating any material part 
of the sermon, the exordium should shadow forth 
the main features of the whole, so that, after listening 
to it, the hearer should have a general idea of the 
speaker's object, and the means by which he pro- 
poses to attain his end. 

Hence it follows that the introduction is to be 
taken from the very viscera of the subject itself, and 
on this account Cicero counsels us not to write our 
introduction until after we have written, or at least 
thoroughly digested the sermon by means of our 
plan. The reason of this is obvious, for if we write 
our exordium at the very commencement, andbefore 
we have thoroughly digested our materials and ar- 
ranged our plan, how can it possibly shadow forth 
the main features of our discourse. In such cases 
we write, not introductions to suit our sermons, but 
sermons to suit our introductions. 

By following Cicero's method we can easily de- 
duce our introduction in a telling manner. It will 
bear the same relation to our discourse as the 
flower does to its stem ; there will be an essential 
connection between it and the discourse which it 
substantially shadows forth, and to which it essen- 
tially leads. Cicero adds on this point, " When 
I have planned and digested all the materials of 
my discourse, it is my custom to think, in the last 
place, of the introduction with which I am to begin. 
For, if at any time I have endeavoured to invent an 
introduction first, nothing has ever occurred to me 
for that purpose but what was trilling-, nugatory, 



r 32 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

and vulgar." These remarks do not necessarily 
suppose that the whole of our sermon has been 
written before we compose the exordium, but they 
suppose that it has, at least, been thoroughly di- 
gested and arranged in such a manner as to enable 
the speaker to shadow forth its leading details in 
his exordium. 

It is scarcely necessary to add that correctness is 
an essential quality of a good introduction. We 
have already spoken of the force of first impres- 
sions. At the commencement of a sermon his 
hearers, being as yet unoccupied with his subject 
or his arguments, direct all their attention to the 
style and manner of the speaker, and, consequently, 
he must endeavour to make a favourable impres- 
sion upon them. After any w r ant of modesty, 
nothing turns an audience against a speaker so 
easily as slovenliness of style or composition, and 
carelessness of manner. When they have once be- 
come thoroughly warmed by the subject, they may 
overlook many defects in the course of a sermon, 
which, if they occurred at the commencement, 
would inevitably prejudice them against the 
speaker, and destroy all his chances of success. 
The introduction is, above all others, that part of 
a discourse in which our hearers, being* as yet un- 
moved and cold, are disposed to act the critic. 

To sum up in a few words. With the exception 
of the exordium ex abrupto Avhich is subject to no 
fixed rules, we shall introduce our discourse in 
some such manner as this : Having quoted our 
text, we proceed to give some explanation of it. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 133 

In ordinary discourses, such as those which are 
preached on common Sundays, a development of 
the text, or a brief explanation of the Gospel of the 
day, is the most usual, and, at the same time, the 
most interesting and becoming introduction. We 
then show its application to the subject of our dis- 
course, or rather we deduce the subject from this 
explanation. Descending from general ideas or 
principles to more particular ones we throw out or 
indicate the germs of our plan. Developing these 
as occasion may require, but always without antici- 
pating any material part of our discourse, we thus 
prepare the way for the announcement of the pro- 
position with its division, and this in such order 
that our proposition naturally flows and is essen 
tially deduced from our introduction, whilst, at the 
same time, it embodies in its fruitful simplicity the 
subject matter of the whole discourse in the manner 
we have described when treating of " unity." 



Examples. 
Simple Exordiums — Dr. Newman. 

"There are two especial manifestations under 
which divine grace is vouchsafed to us, whether in 
Scripture or in the history of the Church ; whether 
in saints or in persons of holy and religious life ; 
the two are even found among our Lord's Apostles, 
being represented by the two foremost of that 
favoured company, St. Peter and St. John. St 
John is the saint of purity, and St. Peter is the 



134 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

saint of love. Not that love and purity can ever be 
separated ; not as if a saint had not all virtues in 
him at once ; not as if St. Peter were not pure as well 
as loving, and St. John loving for all he was so 
pure. The graces of the Spirit cannot be separated 
from each other ; one implies the rest. What is 
love but a delight in God, a devotion to Him, a 
surrender of the whole self to Him ? "What is 
impurity, on the other hand, but the taking some- 
thing of this world, something sinful, for the object 
of our affections instead of God ? What is it but a 
deliberate turning away from the Creator to the 
creature, and seeking pleasure in the shadow of 
death, not in the all-blissful Presence of light and 
holiness ? The impure, then, do not love God ; and 
those who are without love of God cannot really 
be pure ; in some object we must fix our affections, 
we must find pleasure, and we cannot find pleasure 
in two objects, as we cannot serve two masters 
which are contrary to each other. Much less can a 
saint be deficient either in purity or in love, for the 
flame of love will not be bright unless the substance 
which feeds it be pure and unadulterate. 

•' Yet, certain as this is, it is certain also that the 
spiritual works of God show differently from each 
other to our eyes, and that they display, in their 
character and their history, some this virtue more 
than others, and some that. In other words, it 
pleases the Giver of grace to endue them specially 
with certain gifts, for his glory, which light up 
and beautify one particular portion or department 
of their soul, so as to cast their other excellences 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE- l$$ 

into the shade. And then this grace becomes their 
characteristic, and we put it first in our thoughts of 
them, and consider what they have besides as in- 
cluded in it, or dependent upon it, and speak of 
them as if they had not the rest, though they 
really have them ; and we give them some title or 
description taken from that particular grace which 
is so emphatically theirs. And in this way we ma> 
speak, as I intend to do in what I am going to say, 
of two chief classes of saints, whose emblems are 
the lily and the rose, who are bright with angelic 
purity, or who burn with divine love/' — Purity and 
Love. 



" I am going to ask you a question, my dear 
brethren, so trite, and therefore so uninteresting 
at first sight, that you may wonder why I put it, 
and may object that it will be difficult to fix the 
mind on it, and may anticipate that nothing profit- 
able can be made of it. It is this : — ' Why were 
you sent into the world ?' Yet, after all, it is per- 
haps a thought more obvious than it is common, 
more easy than it is familiar : I mean it ought to 
come into your minds ; but it does not, you never 
had more than a distant acquaintance with it, though 
that sort of acquaintance you have had with it for 
many years. Nay, once or twice, perhaps, you have 
been thrown across it somewhat intimately, for a 
short season, but this was an accident which did 
not last. There are those who recollect the first 
time, as it would seem, when it came home to them. 
They were but little children, and they were by them- 



\$6 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

selves, and they spontaneously asked themselves, or 
rather God spake in them ; * Why am I here ? — how 
came I here ? — who brought me here ? — what am I to 
do here ?' Perhaps it was the first act of reason, the 
beginning of their real responsibility, the commence- 
ment of their trial ; perhaps from that day they may 
date their capacity, their awful power of choosing be- 
tween good and evil, and of committing mortal sin. 
And so, as life goes on, the thought comes vividly, 
from time to time, for a short season across the con- 
science ; whether in illness or in some anxiety, or 
some season of solitude, or on hearing some preacher, 
or reading some religious work. A vivid feeling 
comes over them of the vanity and unprofitableness 
of the world, and then the question recurs, ' Why 
then am I sent into it ?'" — God's will the end of life. 

Exordium by Insinuation — Demosthenes. 

" Let me begin, men of Athens, by imploring all 
the heavenly powers, that the same kindly senti- 
ments which I have throughout my public life, 
cherished towards this country and each of you, 
may no.w by you be shown towards me in the 
present contest ! Next, I beseech them to grant, 
what so nearly concerns yourselves, your religion, 
and your reputation^ that you may not take counsel 
of my adversary touching the course to be pursued 
in hearing my defence — that would indeed be hard ! 
— but that you may regard the laws and your 
oaths, which, among so many other just rules, lay 
down this — that both sides shall be equally heard ! 
Nor does this merely import that no one shall be 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 13? 

prejudged, or that equal favour shall be extended 
in both parties ; it also implies that each antago- 
nist shall have free scope in pursuing whatever 
method and line of defence he may be pleased to 
prefer. Upon the present occasion, Athenians, as 
in many things, so especially in two of great mo- 
ment, ^Eschines has the advantage of me. One is 
that we have not the same interests at stake ; it is 
by no means the same thing for me to forfeit your 
esteem, and for him to fail in his impeachment. 
That to me, indeed — but I would fain not take so 
gloomy a view in the outset ; — yet he certainly 
brings his charge an unprovoked volunteer. My 
other disadvantage is that all men are naturally 
prone to take pleasure in listening to invective and 
accusation, and to be disgusted with those who 
praise themselves. To him, therefore, falls the 
part which ministers to your gratification, while to 
me there is only left that which, I may almost say, 
is distasteful to all. And yet, if from such appre- 
hensions I were to avoid the subject of my own 
conduct, I should appear to be without defence 
against this charge, and without proof that my 
honours were well earned ; although I cannot go 
over the ground of my counsels and my measures 
without necessarily speaking oftentimes of myself. 
This, therefore, I shall endeavour to do with all 
moderation ; while the blame of my dwelling on 
topics indispensable to my defence must justly 
rest on him who has instituted an impeachment of 
such a kind. 
. " But at least I think I may reckon upon aJ* of 



itfTRODUCT] . :hl ^:s:ouusz. 

you, my judges, admitting that this question con- 
cerns me as much as Ctesiphon, and justifies on my 
part an equal anxiety; for to be stripped of any 
possession, and more especially by an enemy, is 
grievous and hard to bear: but, worst of all, thus 
to lose your confidence and esteem, of all posses- 
sions the most precious. Such, then, being my 
stake in this cause,. I conjure and implore of you 
alike to give ear to my defence against these 
charges with that impartiality which the laws en- 
join — those laws first given by Solon, one so 
friendly towards you as he was to all popular 
rights — laws which he fixed, not only by engraving 
them on brazen tables, but by the sanction of the 
oaths you take when sitting in judgment : not, I 
verily believe, from any distrust of you, but because 
he perceived that the accuser being armed with the 
advantage of speaking first, the accused can have 
no chance of resisting his charges and invectives, 
unless every one of you, his judges, keeping the 
oath sworn before God, shall receive with favour 
the defence which comes last, and lending an equal 
and a like ear tc both parties, shall thus make up 
your mind upon the whole of the case. 

'''But on this day, when I am about to render 
an account, as it should seem, of my whole li1 \ 
both public and private, I would again, as in the 
outset, implore the gods, and in your presence pour 
out to them my supplication, first to grant me at 
your hands the same kindness in this conflict 
which I have ever borne towards our country and 
all of you; and next, that thevmav incline vou all 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 13Q 

to pronounce upon this impeachment the decision 
which shall best consult the glory of the State and 
the religious obligationsof each individual judge." — 
The Crown. 

Grand Exordium — Dossil et. 

"He who reigns in the heavens, and from whom 
all empires spring, to whom belongeth glory, ma- 
jesty, and independence ; He alone glories in giving 
laws to kings, and in giving* them, too, when it 
pleaseth Him, great and terrible admonition. 
Whether He exalts the throne, or whether He 
humbles it, whether He imparts his power to 
princes or withdraws it to Himself, leaving them 
only their own weakness, He ever teaches them 
their duty with a supremacy worthy of the God- 
head ; for, in giving them his power, He commands 
them to use it as He does Himself, for the good of 
the world, and He teaches them by withdrawing it 
that all their majesty is borrowed, and, though 
seated on the throne, that they are still under his 
hand and subject to his sovereign dominion. It is 
thus that He instructs princes, not only by the 
oracles of his Word, but also by facts and examples. 
Et nunc Reges intelligite, erudimini qui judicatis 
terrain. 

" Christians, whom the memory of a great queen, 
daughter, wife, and mother of mighty kings, and 
sovereign of three kingdoms, calls together to this 
sad ceremony, this discourse will place before you 
one of those awful examples which exhibit to the 
eyes of the world the fulness of its vanity. You 



140 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

will see in the life of one individual the extremes 
of human fortune — measureless felicity and mea- 
sureless woe — a long and peaceful possession of 
one of the brightest crowns of the world— the head 
that wore it encircled with all the glory that power 
and greatness can confer, and then exposed to all 
the outrages of fortune. The good cause at first 
attended with success, and then sudden reverse, 
unheard-of change — rebellion, for a time restrained, 
finally triumphant; no check to licentiousness; 
the laws trampled under foot ; the majesty of the 
throne sacrilegiously profaned ; usurpation and 
tyranny assuming the name of liberty ; a fugitive 
queen finding no refuge in three kingdoms, and 
for whom her native land is but a place of exile; 
nine times the wandering ocean traversed by a 
princess despite the fury of the tempest, and with 
such a change of state and circumstances ; a throne 
ignominiously overturned and miraculously re- 
stored. These are the lessons which God gives to 
kings, and thus does He to show to the world the 
nothingness of its pomps and of its greatness, if 
words will fail, if human language will not furnish 
expression for a subject so vast and so sublime, 
facts must speak — the heart of a great queen, once 
elated by a long continuance of prosperity, then 
suddenly plunged into the deepest abyss of sorrow, 
will raise loud its voice —and if it is not permitted 
to subjects to give lessons to the rulers of nations, 
a king lends me his words to say : ' Hear, you 
great of the earth ; be instructed, arbiters of the 
world/ "« — Funeral Oration on the Queen of England. 



INTRODUCTION" OF THE DISCOURSE. 141 

CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF TWO CELEBRATED 
EXORDIUMS. 

In order to render this matter more clear, and to 
bring the practical bearing of the rules laid down 
more sensibly home to the student, it may be use- 
ful to present him with a critical examination of 
some exordiums which are considered master- 
pieces of their kind. We will select two examples 
for this purpose. 

Our first example, which is sufficiently remark- 
able in itself, and sufficiently well-known, is an ex- 
ordium by Brydayne, a celebrated French preacher 
of the last century. After acquiring considerable 
reputation in the provinces he came to Paris, in 
1 75 1. He made his first appearance in the Church 
of St. Sulpice, whither his reputation had attracted 
an immense audience, including ecclesiastics of the 
highest dignity, and persons of the first rank both 
in Church and State. Maury, who was an enthusi- 
astic admirer of the new preacher, declares that he 
opened his first discourse, delivered in presence of 
the august assembly who crowded round his pulpit, 
in the following words. We need not remark how 
much the language necessarily loses by transla- 
tion : — 

Exordium by Brydayne. 
" At the sight of an auditory so new to me, me- 
thinks, my brethren, I ought only to open my mouth 
to solicit your favour in behalf of a poor mission- 
ary, destitute of all those talents which you require 
of those who speak to you about your salvation. 



J 42 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

Nevertheless, I experience tc-day a feeling very 
different. And, if I be cast down', suspect me not 
of being depressed by the wretched uneasiness 
occasioned by vanity, as if I were accustomed to 
preach myself. God forbid that a minister of hea- 
ven should ever suppose he needed an excuse with 
you! for, whoever ye may be, ye are all of you sin- 
ners like myself. It is before your God and mine 
that I feel myself impelled at this moment to strike 
my breast. 

" Until now. I have proclaimed the righteousness 
of the Most High in churches covered with thatch. 
1 have preached the rigours of penance to the un- 
fortunate who wanted bread. I have declared to 
the good inhabitants of the country the most awful 
truths of my religion Unhappy man ! what have 
I done ? I have made sad the poor, the best friends 
of my God ! I have conveyed terror and grief into 
those simple and honest souls, whom I ougiit to 
have pitied and consoled ! It is here only where I 
behold the great, the rich, the oppressors of suffer- 
ing humanity, or sinners daring and hardened. 
Ah ! it is here only where the sacred word should 
be made to resound with all the force of its thunder; 
and where I should place with me in this pulpit, on 
the one side, Death, which threatens you, and on 
the other, my great God, who is about to judge you. 
I hold to-day your sentence in my hand. Tremble, 
then, in my presence, ye proud and disdainful men 
who hear me ! The necessity of salvation, the 
certainty of death, the uncertainty of that hour, so 
terrifying to you, final impenitence, the last judg- 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 143 

ment, the number of the elect, hell, and, above all, 
Eternity ! Eternity ! These are the subjects upon 
which I am come to discourse, and which I ought, 
doubtless, to have reserved for you alone. Ah ! 
what need have I of your condemnation, which, 
perhaps, might damn me, without saving you ? 
God is about to rouse you, while his unworthy 
minister speaks to you ! — for I have had a long 
experience of his mercies. Penetrated with a de- 
testation of your past iniquities, and shedding tears 
of sorrow and repentance, you will, then, throw 
yourselves into my arms, and, by this remorse, 
you will prove that I am sufficiently eloquent/' 

Without disputing for an instant the force and 
vigour of the language in which it is expressed, 
and without undertaking to say how far it may 
claim to be considered an abrupt exordium, and, 
as such, above all technical restraints, it appears 
to us that, on the one hand, this introduction ol 
Brydayne's is opposed to all the rules laid down, 
and to all the conditions required by rhetoricians 
in the composition of an ordinary exordium ; whilst, 
on the other, it is not easy to see what there was in 
the circumstances to place the preacher beyond the 
control of these rules and conditions. 

In the first place, this exordium seems to offend 
against modesty. The preacher speaks a great 
deal too frequently of himself. " / am not cast down 
by miserable vanity — / am not accustomed to preach 
myself — / hold your sentence in my hand — tremble, 
then,before me" — and a great dea mor^io the same 
effect, 



144 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

Secondly, it is not easy to see how the language 
employed by the preacher can be considered strictly 
true. " Until now/ 1 he says, "/ have proclaimed the 
righteousness of the Alost High i)i churches covered 
with thatch-/' whilst the fact was that he had 
preached in most of the large cities of the king- 
dom. " I have declared to the good inhabitants of the 
country the most awful truths of my religion. Un- 
happy man ! what have I done ? I have made sad the 
poor, the best friends of God /" In other w T ords, up 
to this time he had only preached to saints ! But 
was this true ; and, if it were, how was it to be re- 
conciled with his own words that he had had a 
long experience of the mercies of God ? Surely, 
these mercies were not confined to the great ! 
" Here my eyes fall only upon the great, the rich, the 
oppressors of suffering humanity, upon sinners daring 
and hardened 7" How could a preacher address 
such terms to any Christian audience, much less to 
one whom he then addressed for the first time, and 
of whom, consequently, he could know but littler 
The terrible epithets, oppressors of suffering hu- 
manity, sinners daring and hardened, &c, were 
hurled upon the most distinguished citizens of 
Paris, as if they alone merited them. They might, 
perhaps, be deserving enough of them, but it may 
well be doubted whether they were much more de- 
praved, or much more hardened, than the citizens 
of Lyons, of Marseilles, and of those other large 
towns in which the preacher had already given 
missions ; and if they were not, these assertions of 
Brydayne's seem to be neither true in fact nor con- 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 145 

fined within those temperate limits to which even 
the most ardent zeal must be subject. 

Thirdly, if one of the principal ends of the ex- 
ordium be to render our hearers, benevolos, attentos, 
et dociles, it is not easy to see how this end would 
be gained by such an introduction as that which we 
have given. An unknown, and up to that period, 
comparatively undistinguished preacher, would 
scarcely render an audience whom he then addressed 
for the first time well-disposed towards him, or 
docile to his teaching, by addressing them as 
oppressors of suffering humanity, or hardened or 
obdurate sinners, more especially if that audience 
were composed of ecclesiastics of high dignity, and 
of laymen moving in the first ranks of life. It is 
not likely that such an audience, assembled on such 
an occasion, were so utterly depraved as they were 
represented to be, or that, without exception, they 
deserved to be included in chose terrible anathemas 
which were hurled upon them. But, even suppos- 
ing them, ecclesiastic and layman, to be thus com- 
pletely lost to all sense of religion and duty, would 
you take the most effectual means of winning them 
back by addressing them in such terms as those 
which Brydayne is represented to have used ? 
Would St. Francis of Sales, or St. Vincent of Paul, 
have addressed them in these terms * We venture 
to think not ; and therefore, whilst we freely admit 
the beauty and the vigorous strength of the lan- 
guage in which it is couched, we are far from pre- 
senting this exordium to the student as a model 
which he may wisely imitate, In fact, so improbable 

10 



146 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

and contrary to good taste does this exordium seem 
to some, that M. Hamon, whose judgment we 
willingly follow in all matters relating to sacred 
eloquence, inclines to the opinion that P. Brydayne 
never delivered it at all, and that it is merely the 
fruit of the imagination of Maury. Judging this 
composition on its own intrinsic merits and fitness, 
such an opinion would appear most reasonable. On 
the other hand, however, Maury declares that he 
heard it delivered, and it is generally received as 
the production of him to whom it is attributed; 
neither are those wanting who, looking at it pro- 
bably more as a piece of composition than as 
an exordium, bestow the highest commendations 
on it. 

Our second example is the exordium of the 
Funeral Oration which Bossuet pronounced on 
Henrietta Anne of England, Duchess of Orleans. 
We make no apology for presenting this magni- 
ficent specimen of sacred eloquence to the clerical 
reader in its entirety. Nothing could be more 
chaste and beautiful than the language in which it 
is expressed, nothing more skilful than the manner 
in which, without anticipating any material part of 
the discourse, this exordium shadows forth its main 
features, and embodies them in the proposition, 
that all is vain in man if ue consider ivhat he gives 
to the world ; that all is important if we consider 
what he owes to God ; the nothingness and the great- 
ness of man. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 147 



Exordium by Bossuet. . 

"I was, then, still destined to render this funeral 
duty to the most high and most puissant princess, 
Henrietta Anne of England. Duchess of Orleans. 
She whom I had seen so attentive while I rendered 
the same duty to the queen, her mother, was to be, 
so soon after, the subject of a similar discourse, and 
my sad voice was reserved for this deplorable 
ministry. O vanity ! O nothingness ! O mortals ! 
ignorant of their destinies ! Would she have be- 
lieved it six months since? And you, sirs, would 
you have thought, while she shed so many tears in 
this place, that she was so soon to reassemble you 
there, to weep over herself? Princess, worthy 
object of the admiration of two great kingdoms, 
was it not enough that England mourned your 
absence, without being yet reduced to mourn your 
death ? And France, who saw you again with so 
much joy, environed with a new renown, had she 
now no other pomps, no other triumphs for you, on 
your return from that famous voyage, whence you 
had brought back so much glory and hopes so'fair? 
'Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity/ It is the 
only word which remains to me; it is the only re- 
flection which, in so strange an occurrence, a grief 
so just and so sensible permits me to use. Neither 
have I searched the sacred volumes to find in them 
a text which I could apply to this princess. I have 
taken, without study and without choice, the first 
words which Eccleuastes presents to me, in which, 



148 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

although vanity has been so often named, it still 
appears to me not sufficiently so for the design 
which I propose to myself. I wish, in a single 
misfortune to deplore all the calamities of the 
human race, and in a single death to show the 
death and the nothingness of all human grandeurs. 
This text, which suits all the conditions and all the 
events of our life, by a particular reason becomes 
suitable to my unhappy subject ; for never have the 
vanities of the earth been so clearly exposed, nor so 
loftily confounded. No ; after what we have just 
seen, health is but a name, life is but a dream, 
glory is but a phantom, accomplishments and plea- 
sures but dangerous amusements : all is vain in us, 
except the sincere avowal which we make of our 
vanities before God, and the settled judgment which 
makes us despise all that we are. 

"But do I speak the truth? Man, whom God 
has made to his image, is he only a shade r That 
which Jesus Christ has come from heaven to seek 
on earth, that which He has thought it no degra- 
dation to purchase with all his blood, is it merely a 
nothing ? Tet us recognise our error. Doubtless 
this sad spectacle of human vanities imposed upon 
us, and the public hope, suddenly frustrated by the 
death of this princess, impelled us too far. Man 
must not be permitted altogether to despise him- 
self; lest believing, with the impious, that life is 
but a game in which hazard reigns, he follow, 
without rule and without guidance, the will of his 
blind desires. It is, therefore, Ecclesiastes, after 
having commenced his divine work by the words 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 149 

which I have recited, after having filled all its pages 
with the contempt of human things, wishes at last 
to show to man something more solid, and con- 
cludes his whole discourse by saying: 'Fear God 
and keep his commandments ; for that is the whole 
man ; and know that the Lord will bring unto judg- 
ment all things that are done, whether good or 
evil.' Thus all is vain in man if we regard what 
he gives to the world ; but, on the contrary, all is 
important, if we consider what he owes to God. 
Once more, all is vain in man, if we regard the 
course of his mortal life ; but all is precious, all is 
important, if we contemplate the term at which it 
ends, and the account which he must render of it. 
Let us meditate then to-day, in sight of this altar 
and of this tomb, the first and the last w r ords of Ec- 
clesiastes : the one which shows the nothingness 
of man, the other which establishes his greatness. 
Let this tomb convince us of our nothingness, pro 
vided that this altar, on which a victim of so great 
a price is daily offered for us, at the same tirm 
instructs us in our dignitjV 

Section III. 

Proposition, its Nature and Object. — Division, it.- 
Advantages, Disadvantages, and Principal Rules. 

Having announced our text, and duly explained 
it, we, as we have already remarked, deduce from 
this exordium or explanation the great leading 
truth which is to form the subject of our discourse, 
and this truth we embody and announce in the 



150 INTRODUCTION Of THE DISCOURSE. 

proposition, which forms the third point to be con- 
sidered under the general head of an introduction. 

The proposition, which is not to be confounded 
with the end of the discourse, is nothing more than 
a brief exposition of the whole subject to be treated. 
We have already glanced at some of its qualities 
when treating of " Unity/' It flows naturally, and 
as a necessary consequence, from what has preceded 
it, is expressed in a few words, and must be plain, 
clear, and precise, stating the subject, the whole 
subject, and nothing but the subject. It may be 
announced simply and in a few words, as for ex- 
ample, Death is certain : Mortal sin is the greatest 
evil in the world ; or, as is more commonly the 
case, it may be developed and distributed into its 
component parts ; for, as we have said, although 
the truth to be proved is essentially one, it may be es- 
tablished in various ways, and from various points 
of view. When this is the case we have division, 
which may be described as a partition or develop- 
ment of the proposition. (For an example of 
division or dev< loped proposition, see page 92). 

It is scarcely necessary to remark that there is 
considerable controversy amongst rhetoricians con- 
cerning the use of division. As is well remarked 
by an eminent authority, the dispute is not whether 
there should be division in a discourse, but whether 
that division should be formally announced. No 
discourse can attain its end without order, without 
a clear and methodical distribution of its subject 
matter, and this necessarily supposes division. It 
supposes that the speaker has arranged everything 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 151 

in its proper place, that every argument, example, 
or development is where it ought to be, and this is 
nothing but division. Still, it is one thing to say that 
the preacher must have his matter thus arranged ar.d 
parcelled out, another to assert that he is bound to 
announce this partition in its naked details to his 
audience. Hence the controversy. 

Whilst many writers are opposed to any formal 
division in a sermon, there are those who fly to the 
other extreme. The great sermon writers, French 
and English, of the last century are formal in the 
highest degree. A good deal, perhaps too much, of 
their spirit has come down to our own times, and we 
hear, " We will now consider in the first point . • . 
in the second point ... in the third point "... 
much oftener than is pleasant to listen to. There 
are occasions when a formal division is altogether 
out of place, as for example, when a discourse is 
short, when it merely consists of one point, when it 
is principally of an exhortatory character. In this 
latter case, as the speaker seeks to gain his end by 
appealing to the feelings of his hearers, a formal 
division would be worse than useless, since it is of 
its very nature stiff, precise, and, to a certain ex- 
tent, destructive of eloquence in the real sense of 
the word. It is equally inappropriate when it is 
advisable or necessary for the speaker to conceal 
his purpose from his audience. 

With these exceptions in all sermons which are 
partly argumentative and partly exhortatory, as 
is the case with ordinary discourses, a division is 
extremely useful. We have said a division, be- 



152 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

cause all the advantages of the formal division 
may be secured by adopting the less formal or 
concealed method, whilst the intolerable stiffness 
and apparent pedantry of the method which deals 
out its first point, its second point, its third point, 
and perhaps a half a dozen more, with such scrupu- 
lous exactness and uninviting plainness, are thus 
avoided. 

We refer the student to the plan at page 92, in 
which we think the division is as formal as it ougnt 
ever to be, except in the case of a purely dog- 
matic, or, still more, a controversial sermon. The 
student will see at a glance that, by putting the 
division in this form, " whether we consider the 
sentiments of man at the hour of death, the actions 
of the saints, or the views of God," we escape the 
stiffness of the formal method which would say, 
" We will now consider, in the first point, the sen- 
timents of man at the hour of death ; we will con- 
sider, in the second point, the actions of the saints ; 
and, thirdly, we will consider the views of God/' 
whilsc the division is just as good and just as 
useful for all practical purposes. 

A clearly defined division or distribution of 
matter possesses many advantages. In the first 
place, it is most useful to the preacher himself. It 
aids his memory as well as helps him in his com- 
position. There is no genius so elevated as not to 
stand in need of a restraining hand. Whatever 
keeps the preacher from wandering away from his 
subject is to be most highly prized by him, and he 
is never greater and more successful in his efforts 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 1 53 

than when he advances with order that is governed 
by reason and good taste. An orderly distribution 
of matter is not less useful to an audience. It sheds 
a wonderful light upon the entire discourse. It 
separates the leading questions from those inci- 
dental ones, the introduction of which often only 
serves to render a sermon more obscure, whilst it 
is equally useful in giving due prominence to tho. c e 
parent ideas from which all the details must spring. 
It refreshes the mind by the repose which it affords 
it, and thus paves the way for renewed attention. 
It excites the interest of the hearer by the desire with 
which it inspires him of seeing how the division 
will be worked out. " In fine/' says St. Charles, 
" experience teaches us that our audience conceive 
a sermon more readily, and retain it more firmly, 
when it is arranged in an orderly manner. Know- 
ing whither the preacher wishes to lead them, they 
follow him with more pleasure, and draw greater 
fruit from his discourse." 

The principal objection to the division is, that it 
interferes with the force of the appeal to the pas- 
sions, which is, after all, the great point on which 
the success of the entire discourse turns, inasmuch 
as this is the causa efficax of persuasion. 

This objection is in a limited sense valid, but 
only in a limited sense. 

Most discourses are of a mixed character, partly 
argumentative, partly exhortatory, whilst in all of 
them the proper place for the appeal to the pas- 
sions is in the peroration or conclusion. Now, an 
orderly arrangement or division of matter in the 



154 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

argumentative part, or body of the discourse, by 
no means diminishes the effect of the appeal to 
the passions in the peroration ; neither does it pre- 
vent the same appeal from being made with much 
force and power at the conclusion of each leading 
argument, during the sermon. 

On the contrary, the division is ot positive ad- 
vantage in preparing the way for this appeal to 
the passions ; since, by imparting order, reason, 
and sound logical sequence to the discourse, it 
helps to convince our audience that they are acting 
like reasonable men in surrendering themselves 
captive to the preachers powers of persuasion ; 
that they are not the victims of a momentary and 
empty enthusiasm, which is as unworthy of him 
who endeavours to excite it. without duly preparing 
the minds of his hearers for it, as it is profitless and 
unheeded by those who abandon themselves to it 
for the moment that it lasts, but who never think 
of putting into practice the impulses with which it 
may inspire them. 

It now remains for us to indicate briefly some of 
the principal qualities of a good division. 

In the first place, it is evident that it ought to be 
clear. Our only object in employing it at all is to 
impart clearness to our subject, and, of course, we 
shall scarcely succeed in this object if our division 
itself be confused and obscure. Our division, with- 
out falling into the extreme of absurd formality, 
ought to be conceived in terms so clear and pre- 
cise, and ought to throw such a light upon the 
substantial distribution of our matter, that our 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 1 55 

audience mav seize it without difficulty, and retain 
it without effort. 

2. The division ought to be just : that is to say, 
it ought to embrace the whole subject, neither more 
nor less ; one part ought not to trench upon another, 
and the various parts ought to have a necessary 
relation to the whole, so as to produce the unity 
whence springs that perfect proportion which is at 
once so pleasing and so just. As far as possible, 
one point ought to be, so to speak, a stepping- 
stone to the next, which thus will be presented to 
our audience with all the additional weight and 
force which it derives from what has gone before; 
whilst the interest of the whole discourse will be 
continually increasing: Ut augeatur semper, et in- 
crescat oratio. We must take care to follow the 
order of nature, beginning with the simplest points, 
and gradually leading our audience from the magis 
notum to the minus notum, in logical as well as 
oratorical order and sequence. If the various 
divisions be not clearly defined and marked out, 
if one member run into another, so that the 
preacher is continually obliged to turn back and 
resume arguments or points of his discourse which 
he has already treated, he will quickly become in- 
volved in inextricable confusion, whilst his audi- 
ence will turn away from him in disgust at having 
the same ideas thus thrust upon them again and 
again until they are weary of them. 

It is certain that our division will be just in pro- 
portion as it is natural. Hence, it is impossible 
for a preacher to lay down fixed laws for himself, 



f 56 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE 

and say, I will always have three points or four 
points, as the case may be. We must assiduously 
study to discover into what divisions our subject 
most naturally resolves itself, and adopt them ; 
with a firm belief that, as they are the most 
natural, so will they be the most just and the most 
successful. 

3. Our division, though fruitful, must be brief. 
The terms in which our partitions are expressed 
should be concise, not containing a single word 
which is not required for the enunciation of the 
great truth laid down in our proposition, with the 
division or partition which may be necessary, and 
which our experience and good taste will point out 
to us. 

Not only must the terms in which they are ex- 
pressed be clear and concise, but the divisions or 
points of our discourse myst be few. If they be 
too numerous, four or five for example, it will be 
impossible to develop them thoroughly within the 
limits of any ordinary discourse, and nothing is 
more indiscreet and destructive of the end we have 
in view than any undue demand upon the time or 
attention of our hearers. As an ordinary rule long 
sermons are certain to be failures. 

The above remarks may be applied, a fortiori ', to 
subdivisions. However much they may have been 
employed in other times, the spirit of our age and 
the practice of our pulpit are against their use. 
They may be in their proper place in a logical 
treatise, but they render a sermon intolerably dry 
and hard, whilst they impose an unbearable tax 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 157 

upon the memory of an audience. Instead of ele- 
vating and adding dignity to it, they weaken a 
subject immeasurably; instead of throwing light 
upon it, they surround it with the densest obscurity, 
and produce those evil results which it is the very 
purpose of the division to meet. " In eamdem ob- 
scuritatem incidunt contra quam partitio inventa 
est,"* says Quintilian. Subdivisions, at all events 
to any extent, take away all the force and majesty 
of a discourse. To use a homely phrase, they 
fritter it away to nothing ; and, without any com- 
mensurate result, by their long-drawn conclusions 
and finely-spun distinctions, suck all the life-juice 
out of those two or three strong and vigorous lead- 
ing members of his discourse, which, if the preacher 
had been content to employ them in their native 
ruggedness and undiminished strength, would have 
been so powerful and efficacious in his hands. 

To say that a division must be brief is almost the 
same as to say that it must be simple. The more 
simple it is the more perfect it is, and true genius 
is shown, not in inventing extraordinary plans and 
splitting a subject into innumerable divisions and 
subdivisions, but in working out and developing a 
simple plan ; producing a whole, grand in its unity 
and beautiful in its simplicity, from a design which 
shall have that same unity and simplicity for its 
characteristic qualities. — 

4. The division must be practical. The end of all 
our preaching is to make men better, by inducing 

* J4b, iv. 



153 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

them to practise virtue and avoid vice. Salvation 
is to be attained, not by belief but by practice; 
and, hence, in every sermon the preacher naturally 
aims at some practical result to be produced upon 
the souls of his hearers. The division of a discourse, 
therefore, ought to embrace that which is to be done 
or that which is to be avoided ; so that, uy merely 
listening to it, the audience perceive, at least in 
a general way, the practical fruit which they are 
to draw from the sermon. 

Sometimes we may deduce the division of our 
matter from Holy Writ, and this, of course, is the 
highest source to which we can go, because we 
thus speak with the authority of God Himself, and 
proceed according to the order which He Himself 
has marked out. Finally, we may divide our sub- 
ject either as its very nature or our own experience 
or taste may suggest to us as most pleasing, or 
useful for our end. 

In order to aid the young preacher, we will now 
give him a few examples of the most simple and 
common divisions which are made of those ordi- 
nary subjects which he will most frequently be 
called to treat. 

EXAMPLES. 

( (i.) "What is the end ot man? (2.) Is man 
The End of Man. 1 bound to attain his end ? (3.) By what means is 
( he to attain it ? 

/ (1.) What is mortal sin ? (2.) What are its 
Sin. ...o.J effects in regard to God, angels, and men ? (3.) 
^ Its remedies in regard to past and future sin, 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 



*5V 



The divine Per- 
fections : Omni- 
potence, Sanc- 
tity, Wisdom, 
Goodness, Mercy, 
Justice, &c, of 
God. 



(i.) God is everywhere present. (2.) The con 
sequences which flow from this truth. 
Or, 

(I.) The omnipotence of God is a powerful 
motive why we should avoid sin. (2.) A powerful 
means of arriving at perfection ir a short time. 
Or (Bourdaloue), 

(I.) God has an essential dominion over us 
which we are bound to acknowledge by a sincere 
oblation of ourselves. 

(2.) A universal dominion which we are bound 
to acknowledge by an entire oblation of our- 
selves. 

(3.) An eternal dominion which we are bound 
to acknowledge by a prompt oblation of ourselves. 
Or (Bossuet), 

(I.) The glory of God is manifested in the con- 
version of the sinner. (2.) His mercy in the 
pardon of the sinner. (3.) His justice in the im- 
^ position of penance. 



The benefits 
of God : Provi- 
dence, Incarna- 
tion, Redemp- ( 
tion, Grace, Eu- 
charist, Confes- 
sion, &c. 



(1.) The greatness of the benefit viewed in 
itself, in him who bestows it, and him who receives 
it. (2.) The obligations which result from its 
reception. 
Or, 

(I.) By my creation God is the Author of my 
being, therefore I am bound to obey Him. (2 ) 
He has made me for Himself, therefore I am bou d 
to tend to Him. (3. ) He has made me to his own 
image, therefore I am bound to resemble Him, 



Death 



■I 



(1.) We must prepare for death. (2.) How we 
are to prepare. 
Or, 

(1.) The certainty of death ought to detach us 
from all things of the world. (2. ) The uncertainty 
I of death ought to cause us to live in a state q\ 
V continual preparation, 



l6o INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 

t (i.) Its nature. (2.) The judgment of the just, 
Judgment. . . < their consolation. (3). The judgment of the 
( wicked, their anguish and despair. 



f (1.) The glory of heaven. (2 J Means of attain- 

j ing this glory. 
I Or, 
Heaven. , . . ( (1.) The joys of Paradise ought to detach our 
hearts from the things of the world. (2.) To in- 
flame us with fervour in the service of God. (3.) 
To fill us with couAige to sustain the trials of life. 



(1.) What is hell ? (2.) For whom it is pre- 
Hell. »•'„•< pared. (5.) How we are to escape it. 



/ (1.) Nature — marks, characteristics. (2.) Mo- 
Virtues and Vices. - fives — necessity, utility, profit, &c. (3.) Means— 

( general or particular. 

( (1.) Nature or excellence. (2.) Necessity. (3.) 

Sacraments. • . ) _. 

( Disposition;. 

/ (I.) Motives. (2.) Things to be ashed. (3.) 

' ' ( Conditions. 



(1.) By establishing this precept God has shown 
his mercy to the poor. (2.) To the rich. 
Almsgiving. . . I 0r> 

J (1.) Obligation. (2.) Advantages. (3.) Con- 
I ditions. 



I (r.) The evil of living without religion. (2.) Of 
Religion. . . ' not living according to our religion. (3.) Happi- 
( ness of living up to our religion. 



Scandal. 



J (r.) Its nature and enormity. (2.) Its punish' 
t ment, (3.) Its reparation, 



INTRODUCTION OF THE DISCOURSE. 



16 



The Blessed 
Virgin. 



(i.) Who is the Blessed Virgin Mary: the 
Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, 
the Spouse of the Holy Ghost. (2.) Motives whv 
we should worship her : our Queen, our Refuge, 
our Comforter, our Mother. (3.) How we are to 
worship her : Invocation and Imitation, 



II 




CHAPTER. VIII. 

BODY OF THE DISCOURSE — INSTRUCTION, ARGUMEN- 
TATION, REFUTATION, SPECIAL APPLICATION. 

Section I. 

Instruction — its Obligation, Necessity, and Nature. 

RAVING introduced and sufficiently explained 
our subject, having laid down and deve- 
loped, in the proposition and division, the 
great leading truth to be propounded and carried 
home to the hearts of our hearers, we enter at once 
upon the establishing of that truth, we proceed to 
prove our thesis in what is technically called the 
argumentative part, or body of the discourse. 

Our proposition, though essentially enunciating 
one truth, enunciates a truth which may be viewed, as 
we have already remarked, in various ways and es- 
tablished by various proofs. These proofs, with their 
varied amplifications and oratorical developments, 
form the parts or points of our discourse; and, 
having duly introduced our subject, and distributed 
these parts or points, we. without further preamble 
or loss of time, enter upon the establishment of 
them by means of solid and appropriate argumen- 
tation. 

We scarcely need speak of the necessity of soli<3 



INSTRUCTION. 1 63 

argument in every discourse, since the remaining 
parts of the sermon are subordinate to this, and are 
effective in proportion as they contribute to its suc- 
cess. The exordium simply paves the way for the 
more becoming introduction of the argumentation, 
whilst the peroration merely seeks to move the 
hearts of our hearers, and thus cause them to put in 
practice those virtues or good resolutions of whose 
reasonableness and obligation they have been 
already convinced by the preacher's arguments. 
The object, therefore, of the confirmation or argu- 
mentative part of a sermon is the full and complete 
development of the proposition, with the ultimate 
end of the persuasion of our hearers ; for, in every 
discourse, we certainly seek to make our audience 
adopt our views, we certainly aim at obtaining for 
those views not only the assent of their understand- 
ing, but still more the consent of their will and 
their heart. 

Sermons may be addressed, as Canon Bellefroid 
well remarks, to three classes of persons— to these 
who, although in ignorance, are quite willing to 
receive the truth ; to those who, though instructed, 
are in doubt ; and, finally, to those who are neither 
in ignorance nor doubt, but who are restrained by 
their passions, evil habits, or human respect from 
reducing their belief to practice, and following the 
light which God has given them. 

If we are preaching to an audience composed of 
the first class, it is merely necessary to instruct 
them. It is sufficient to show them their duty, and 
they will at once embrace it. 



164 EODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

The second class require to be convinced. It 
may be that they are beset with prejudices which 
we must combat, or perhaps they are in such a 
frame of mind that they refuse to receive anything 
upon our bare word. They must have solid reasons 
for the doctrines we advance ; but, once convinced, 
they lay down their arms without further parley. 
In their case conviction and persuasion are iden- 
tical, and they willingly renounce any vice as 
soon as we convince them that it is contrary to the 
law of God. 

The third class are more difficult to be managed. 
They are neither in ignorance nor in doubt, but 
they are under the dominion of passions which 
enthral them and which render them deaf to all 
conviction or persuasion, until we can manage to 
direct their forces against themselves ; until we can 
manage to avail ourselves of those same passions, 
and turn them in the right direction; until by 
means of a warm and fervid eloquence we can 
move the hidden springs of their heart, act effica- 
ciously upon their will, and gain them from vice to 
virtue. 

It may, of course, happen that a preacher may 
have to address an audience composed exclusively 
of one or other of these three classes. In such a 
3ase his sermon must be adapted to the circum- 
stances in which he finds himself; but, as an ordi- 
nary rule, a discourse has to be composed in such 
a manner as to embrace them all at the same time. 
Not only have our audience different wants, out it 
also often happens that the same people require to 



INSTRUCTION". l6j 

be instructed, to be convinced, and to be effica- 
ciously moved. It is impossible to instruct pro- 
perly without strengthening our doctrine by solid 
proofs, reasons, and arguments; impossible to 
reason powerfully and efficaciously without at least 
some admixture of those more tender feelings 
through which we reach the heart. 

Hence, whether we look at it in merely an ora- 
torical point of view, or whether we regard it witl 
the eye of faith, it is equally plain that clear, solid 
practical instruction, instruction embracing explana- 
tion and a? giitncniaiion, lorms an integral and im- 
portant part of every good discourse. 

Let us look at it for a moment merely in an 
oratorical point of view. A discourse which is well 
furnished with sound, solid instruction, which is 
strong in proofs and appropriate arguments, is cer- 
tain to be a good discourse. According to Horace, 
the great secret of eloquence is to be well instructed 
on our subject, and to be perfectly made up on al 1 
the collateral knowledge which is necessary fortfu 
thorough mastery of it. 

" Scribendi recte, sapere est printiphlm et Jons."* 

The first object of the orator must necessarily be 
to instruct his audience thoroughly on the subject 
which he treats, and this is still more true of the 
sacred than of the secular orator, since the very end 
and aim of his ministry is to lead men to the prac- 
tice of virtue through a knowledge of the truth. In- 

* Ars Poet. 



166 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

struct' on ought to form the body, the substance of 
the discourse ; the other qualities, the charm of 
pleasing and the power of moving, supply the 
blood, so to speak, which is to animate and give 
full life and vigour to the body. w Sicuti sanguis in 
corporibus, sic ilia in oratiombus fusee esse debebunt"* 
says Cicero. 

The power of pleasing and of moving, according 
to Quintilian, has no right to be brought forward 
except in support of, and to add full weight to, 
solid instruction. If it be important, as it most 
certainly is, to please and to move in a sermon, it 
is infinitely more important to instruct : and we 
may safely say that no preacher will ever succeed 
in really pleasing or moving unless he has first 
succeeded in impa ting sound instruction. The 
highest flights of oratory, unless they be prepared 
for by a foundation of clear explanation and solid 
instruction, will be mere empty declamation, the 
antics of a madman, as Longinus expresses it ; or, 
as Cicero puts it, the freaks of a drunkard in a com- 
pany of sober men. Hence we see that the greatest 
oratoib of antiquity always paved the way for the 
highest flights of their genius by a course of solid 
argumentation, and those powerful appeals to the 
passions of their audience, by which they carried all 
before them, had their foundation in the solid ar- 
guments which had already been established. It 
was thus that Demosthenes proceeded in his im- 
mortal philippics, and this is the course followed by 

* De Orat. lib. ii. 



INSTRUCTION. I by 

Cicero in those models of all that is great in 
oratory, his orations against Cataline 

Let us look now at this subject with the eye of 
faith. It is said that Bossuet obtained more con- 
versions by his "Exposition of Catholic Doctrine" 
than by all his controversial writings or his great 
sermons. According to the Council of Trent, the 
Holy Fathers have frequently converted infidels, 
led back heretics to the truth, and confirmed 
Catholics in the faith, by a simple exposition of 
the doctrines of religion. Regarded with the eye of 
faith, we may safely say that solid instruction is an 
essential part of every sermon. The obligation of 
imparting it is identical with the obligation to 
preach. When Jesus Christ laid upon his disciples 
and their successors the obligation of preaching, 
Docete omnes gentes. He laid upon them the obliga- 
tion of imparting to their flocks clear, solid, instruc- 
tion, for such is the meaning of the word Docete. 
The man who preaches without instructing does 
not satisfy his obligation. He only eludes it. It 
is in vain to busy ourselves about pleasing our 
hearers by the charms of our style, or the graces of 
our diction ; vain to appeal to those deep emotions, 
those master passions which so wonderfully move 
and influence the heart of man, unless we have first 
laid a foundation of solid instruction. u Docere ne- 
cessitatis est . . . Populi priusdocendi quam movendi" 
says St. Augustine.* 

And, in truth, if we wish intimately to appre- 

• De Doct. Christ, lib. iv. cap. 12. 



1 68 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

ciate the position which instruction holds in the 
Christian oration, we have only to reflect for a 
moment upon the wants of those to whom our 
ministry is addressed. 

Instruction, in the broad meaning of the term, 
may be said to comprise a clear explanation of 
the Christian doctrine, and the establishment of it 
by solid and appropriate proofs or arguments. Now, 
as a general rule, do not our hearers stand in 
urgent need of the one and the other ? Unless their 
pastor clearly explain to them the Christian doc- 
trine, their ideas, even on the most essential 
points, will be confused, inexact, perhaps false; 
inasmuch as they have no other means of learn- 
ing their religion except those which he may afford 
them by his explanation of the truths of their 
holy faith. 

Does not experience bear sad testimony to the 
truth of these remarks ? How many persons are 
there who listen, Sunday after Sunday, to what are 
called sermons, and yet remain in ignorance of 
leading truths and essential practices ; who go on 
from year to year without ever acquiring a thorough 
knowledge of their religion ? Either their pastor 
knows not how, or takes not the trouble, to impart 
to them that clear explanation of their faith and 
its obligations which would have made them intel- 
ligent and fervent Catholics, potentes in opere et 
sermone, able to give a reason for the faith that is 
in them ; or, what is just as likely, he takes for 
granted that they know a great deal of which in 
very truth they are profoundly ignorant, and so, 



INSTRUCTION. 169 

instead of giving them that elementary instruction 
which they grievously need, he lays himself out to 
preach set sermons, perhaps on far-fetched and 
unpractical subjects, filled with empty conceits and 
useless speculations, although expressed, it may 
be, in pleasing language, and embellished with all 
the charms of style and diction. 

From whichsoever cause the mistake may arise, 
the unfortunate result is the same, and the result 
is, that in too many congregations we have numbers 
of what we familiarly call half-and-half Catholics : 
Catholics who have such hazy and undefined notions 
on the most essential points of belief and of prac- 
tice; who are certain to take the wrong side on 
those political-religious questions which are con- 
tinually cropping up, as, for example, the question 
of the Pope in our day ; men who either have never 
thoroughly known their religion, or, having for- 
gotten what they once knew, are by their evil lives 
a living scandal to the Church to which they nomi- 
nally belong, a reproach to the body whose name 
they bear, and, it may be, a heavy burden to be 
laid upon the soul of the pastor who is responsible 
to God for their eternal salvation. 

These poor people, the humble equally with the 
more respectable, have looked to their pastor to be 
fed with the bread of life, and he has only given 
them a stone. They have come, Sunday after 
Sunday, hungering and thirsting, perhaps, for the 
food of solid instruction, and they have been sent 
empty away ; or, at best, they have been but fed 
with some empty conceit, some vain speculation, 



I 70 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

which may have ministered pleasantly for the mo- 
ment to a diseased appetite, but which has left no 
permanent or lasting effect behind it. Hence, we 
have so many sermons and so little fruit, so little 
real piety and so much pretence of virtue, so many 
superstitions, and so many disorderly habits, even 
in those who make a practice of approaching the 
Holy Sacraments. 

Yes, let the preacher persuade himself most inti- 
mately, that if his sermons are to be really useful, 
if they are to be worthy of him and his high mis- 
sion, they must be full of solid instruction. Let 
him feed his flock with the solid food of the Chris- 
tian doctrine, clearly explained and earnestly en- 
forced. Let him never be weary of explaining the 
elementary truths of our holy faith, the Sacraments, 
the Creed, the Commandments of God and his 
Church Let him insist upon them, in season and 
out of season. Let him enforce them, opportune et 
importune, in onini patientia et doctrina Then will 
his preaching be worthy of himself and his mission. 
Then, and then alone, will he bring forth much 
fruit to the glory of God and the salvation of im- 
mortal souls. Then, and then alone, will he truly 
discharge " the work of the ministry," opus minis- 
tern. 

Not only must the Christian doctrine be clearly 
explained, but it must be solidly proved. 

No doubt there are some truths which are so 
clear, or which are so universally admitted, that it 
would be useless, perhaps even dangerous, to set 
about proving them. With the exception of these 



INSTRUCTION. 1J\ 

primary truths, the preacher is expected to support 
his propositions by solid proofs. Our audience 
neither regard us as inspired, nor the assertions 
which we advance as infallible. They frequently 
listen to us with a certain degree of distrust, and 
only give their assent to our teaching when it is 
sustained by sound argument. Anticipating that 
we shall probably demand from them sacrifices 
painful to flesh and blood, very frequently they are 
prepared beforehand to entrench themselves behind 
those subterfuges which self-love may suggest to 
them for withholding their consent to the doctrine 
advanced by the preacher. If such be the case, if 
they be thus prepared to resist the truth, let the 
preacher at least confound them by the force of his 
arguments ; and, if he cannot bring them into sub- 
jection to the light, reduce them to silence. Besides, 
how often is the conviction produced by solid argu- 
ment the only fruit that remains after a sermon ! 
Emotions are transitory, resolutions inconstant, 
impressions easily effaced. If these affections be 
not founded upon deep and earnest conviction, the 
whole edifice is but as a house built upon the sand, 
which is swept away by the first wind of tempta- 
tion, the first whispering of human respect, the first 
assault of passion, or the first strong attack of 
natural repugnance and weary disgust. ----'" • 

Hence it is that sound reasoning, sol:d argumen- 
tation, is the very nerve and muscle of a discourse. 
In eloquence, as in philosophy, conviction is the 
result of sound reason, the fruit of just ccoisequences 
drawn from good and true principles. The differ- 



172 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

ence is. that the philosopher affects the driest and 
most rigorous terms, whilst the orator seeks to 
hide the natural ruggedness of the instrument 
which he employs under the graces of the garment 
with which he clothes it ; but it is the same instru- 
ment as that which is used by the philosopher, and 
it is used for the same end, to convince his hearers ; 
the philosopher, however, looking upon conviction 
as an end, whilst the orator views it as a means, an 
essential means if you will, but still only as a 
means to persuasion. 

Moreover, man, being a creature of reason, desires 
to be led by reason to comprehend and to adopt 
those truths which are proposed to him. If he be 
not thus guided, either he does not adopt them at 
all, or his faith, being at best but weak, is exposed 
to continual danger. Resting upon no solid foun- 
dation, that faith is continually exposed to be 
shaken, if not to be altogether overthrown, by the 
evil discourses to which he is constrained to listen, 
by the bad books with which he so frequently 
meets, or by the temptations with which he may 
be assailed from within or without, from the evil 
suggestions of his restless enemy or of his own 
corrupt nature. Hence, whenever the preacher 
has to establish any truth which has been formally 
denied or called into question, he must advance 
those formal and positive arguments which will 
place it, clearly and incontestably, above doubt o.* 
cavil. When there may not be the same rigorous 
necessity for advancing formal proofs, there are 
many occasions on which it is most useful to prove 



INSTRUCTION. 1 73 

the Christian doctrine by solid arguments. If our 
people have once clearly comprehended the force 
of those arguments on which their holy faith and 
its salutary practices are built, they will not only 
be secured in a great measure against the assaults 
of the enemy, but they will also be able to refute 
the sneering sophisms of the unbeliever, whilst 
they will appreciate more intimately, and prize 
more highly, that religion whose motives and whose 
precepts are equally in accordance with the con- 
viction that flows from the intellect, and the love 
which springs from the heart. 

Thus much on the general necessity of instruc- 
tion in the argumentative part or body of our dis- 
course. It now remains to descend more into 
particulars, and to examine more in detail the pre- 
cise nature of this instruction, and the manner of 
im] arting it. 

In order to render his discourse solidly instruc- 
tive, we need hardly say that the preacher does not 
commence by consulting his imagination, or by 
selecting the most pleasing or uncommon figures 
of speech. He commences rather by acquiring 
from approved sources a fund of clear, solid, prac- 
tical information on his subject. Having studied 
for his own information, he then studies how to 
apply his knowledge most powerfully and effica- 
ciously to his hearers; for, it is one thing- to pos- 
sess a certain amount of information on any point, 
and another, and a very different thing, to know 
how to impart it to an audience. 

It frequently happens that the most learned men 



T74 BOLY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

are the worst teachers, and this, either because 
they cannot comprehend the difficulties of persons 
who are less gifted than themselves, or because 
they do not study how to adapt themselves to the 
comprehension and intellectual calibre of their 
audience. No matter how well a man may know a 
thing, he must study it deeply in relation to his 
audience before he will be able to expose it with 
clearness, and with such method, and in such 
manner, as may render it intelligible, and by this 
means useful to them. 

The instruction which the Christian preacher 
necessarily proposes to himself to impart to his 
flock is comprised, as we have already remarked, 
under two leading heads: (i) a clear explanation, 
and (2) the establishment, by solid proofs, of that 
portion of the Christian doctrine which forms the 
subject of his discourse. We shall best investigate 
these important matters by considering the manner 
according to which they are to be conducted, at 
the same time suggesting to the young preacher 
some practical rules which may aid him to explain 
and establish the points of his sermon. 



INSTRUCTION. I 7 5 

Section II. 

Explanation of the Christian Doctrine. Clearness 
the essential quality of instruction—means of 
securing it. Special adaptation of the subject 
to the Audience. Rules for the use of Words 
and the construction of Strong and Harmonious 
Sentences. 

In order to explain this subject clearly, effec- 
tively, and well to his hearers, the preacher must 
follow certain practical rules 

i. Unless he have positive knowledge of the con- 
trary, he must take it for granted, as we have re 
marked in another place, that his audience know 
very little, that thev possess very little exact and 
definite informatior on the subject which he is 
treating, and his explanation must be always made 
with these principles in view. Hence, posit is 
fonendis, he will explain his subject, its nature, 
origin, or special bearing, in the most simple and 
elementary mannei, clearing up every difficulty 
which may reasonably be supposed to exist in the 
minds of any of his hearers. 

It is vastly less inconvenient to run the risk of 
saying too much, and of repeating to the more in- 
structed portions of our flock explanations which 
they ma)- have heard before, and which they per- 
fectly understand, than to say too little, and thus 
leave the more ignorant portion of our charge with- 
out that knowledge which is absolutely necessary 
for salvation. 



176 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

Besides, as we said above, the most elementary 
truths can always, by due preparation and care, be 
presented in an attractive and pleasing manner; 
whilst, on the other hand, spiritual things, Chris- 
tian truths a,nd Christian practices, even of the 
most elementary character, are always more or 
less obscure to the sight of the children of the 
world, whose eyes are blinded by material inte- 
rests, passions, and sin. Let not, then, the young 
preacher be deterred from explaining simple truths 
in a simple manner by the thought that he may 
weary his audience by repeating what they already 
know. Experience will soon teach him that they 
possess much less exact and definite knowledge 
than he gives them credit for. Let his golden rule 
ever be Non noza, sed nove. 

2. In preparing his instructions,, the preacher 
ought to impose upon himself a conscientious obli- 
gation of being very exact, of distinguishing care- 
fully between what is of precept and what is only 
of counsel, between essential dispositions and 
what is only of greater perfection. He ought 
also to be much more solicitous about practice 
than speculation, about preparing his hearers to 
receive the sacraments worthily rather than about 
filling them -with admiration of them. The reasons 
for this are evident. 

3. The first and most essential quality of good 
instruction is clearness. Clearness is that quality 
in a discourse, or in a particular sentence, which 
enables the hearer to understand, easily and un- 
hesitatinglyj the meaning of him who speaks, 



INSTRUCTION. 177 

When a discourse is thus clear, an audience can no 
more help understanding its meaning than they 
can help perceiving the rays of the mid-day sun. 
Tarn simplex et apertus sermo debet esse, ut ab intelli- 
gentia sui nullos, quamvis imperitos, excludat* 
Clearness is identical with simplicity and preci- 
sion. The young preacher, more especially in a 
country like Ireland, where Nature has endowed her 
children with a warm and fervid imagination, can 
never impress this truth too deeply upon himself. 
He must persuade himself that clearness and sim- 
plicity go hand-in-hand. In the first years of his 
ministry, more particularly, he must cautiously re- 
strain and control the imagination, which is so 
ready to run riot amid the flowers of rhetoric ; and 
he must not shrink from an unsparing use of the 
pruning knife when he finds, as he often will, that 
he is sacrificing sense to sound, that he is losing 
clearness in verbiage, that he is heaping epithet 
upon epithet without in any way developing or 
rendering his meaning more plain. 

It is evident, however, that clearness as applied 
to instruction is a relative term, since a discourse, 
whose meaning may be quite plain and intelligible 
to one audience, may be just the contrary to 
another less gifted or less highly educated. The 
clearness of a discourse, in this relative sense, may 
be said to depend : (a) Upon the tact, discretion, and 
judgment with which the subject is adapted to the 
special capacity of the audience to be addressed, 

* St. Prosper, lib. i. de vit. contempl. c. xxiii. 

i2 



I'/8 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

(J?) Upon such a selection of individual words and 
phrases as are most proper to express the ideas to 
be conveyed, (c) Upon such an arrangement of 
those words and phrases as will form a well- 
constructed, strong, and harmonious sentence. 

(a.) St. Augustine, in his work, De catechizandis 
Rudibus, and all the masters of the art of Sacred 
Eloquence, are unanimous in their opinion as to the 
absolute necessity of adapting our discourse to the 
intelligence and capacity of our audience. Quin- 
tilian, in his " Institutions, ,, devotes an entire book 
to the same subject. Nor is Cicero less explicit on 
the obligation of the orator to adapt, not only his 
' thoughts, but his expressions to the capacity of his 
hearers. " Nonenim*' he says, ll auditor omnis eodem 
■ aut verborum genere tractandus est, aut sententia' 
rum. . . . Nee semper, nee apud omnes, nee contra 
omnes, nee pro omnibus eodem modo dicendum"* 

This is one of the main secrets of the success of 
a discourse, as the want of this special adaptation 
is one of the principal causes of the little fruit which 
'is produced by many sermons. A preacher sits 
down in his room and, without a thought of the 
peculiar capacities, necessities, and dispositions of 
those to whom it is to be addressed, composes a 
vague, general, and unpractical discourse, just as 
much adapted to one congregation as to another. 
He seems to take it for granted that all people are 
gifted with the same capacity, have received the 
same amount of education, and are subject to the 
same infirmities and wants. 

* Orat. ]ib„ xxii and exxiu. 



INSTRUCTION. 1 79 

On the same principle, some clergymen take 
much pains to write a discourse for every Sunday in 
the year, thinking that when they have done this 
they have fulfilled all that is due from them, and 
that nothing remains but to repeat the same course 
of sermons year after year, as if the wants of the 
faithful never varied, as if they never made any 
progress in virtue, or, in fine, as if the preacher, 
after many years spent in the ministry 1 , acquired no 
additional knowledge and experience, no greater 
capacity for instructing, guiding, and governing 
his flock than he possessed in the first days of his 
priesthood. 

Now this is very false, and is not only prejudicial 
to success in preaching, but is opposed to the first 
principles of Sacred Eloquence. The orator who 
does not sedulously adapt his discourse to the 
capacity and dispositions of his special audience 
simply abuses language. Language has been given 
to man as the vehicle of communicating his ideas 
to his fellow-men. It is evident that language 
can only attain its end when it is intelligible, and 
hence, if he who addresses me does so in terms 
which I cannot comprehend, he diverts this fa- 
culty from the end for which it was destined by 
God, and stands in the same relation towards me 
as a stranger whose tongue is unknown to me. Si 
nesciero virtntem vocis^ qui loquitur, mihi barbarus* 
" He raises his voice without any reason," says 
St. Augustine, " since we only speak in order that 

* Cor. xiv. 



[So BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

we may be understood. " Loquendi omnino nulla 
causa, si quod loquimur 11011 intelligunt ii propter 
quoSy ut intelligant, loquimur * 

Such a speaker fails no less signally as regards 
the rules of true eloquence. True eloquence does 
not consist in the mere graces of style, in skil- 
fully rounded periods, or in elegant figures of 
speech ; but in the power of acting upon the 
minds and the hearts of men, enlightening the 
one by means of solid instruction and reasonable 
conviction, and moving the other by those strong 
emotions which influence the will and reduce it 
to subjection. It is evident that the first condi- 
tion for securing these great effects of eloquence 
consists in putting ourselves, in some sense, on a 
level with those to whom we speak, and in thus 
addressing ourselves to their capacity and to their 
emotions and feelings. There is no doubt that in 
this happy facility of addressing himself to his 
audience lay the great secret of that wonderful in- 
fluence which O'Connell exercised for so many 
years over the Irish people, which enabled him to 
turn them whither he w r ould, to govern them and 
to restrain them as if they had been one man. 
Hence, the truth contained in the wise precept 
of Quintilian, Apud populum qui ex pluribus constat 
indoctis, secundum communes magis intellectus lo- 
quendum est.f 

These principles, which are essentially true as 
regards orators in general, become still more prac- 

* De Poet. Christ, lib. iv. 10. t Lib. iii. c 8. 



INSTRUCTION. iG: 

tical, and of still higher significance and import- 
ance, when applied to the preacher of the Gospel. 
The sacred orator who does not do all that lies in 
him to adapt his discourse to the capacity and 
special necessities of his hearers, forgets the great 
examples which are set before him by his Lord and 
Master Jesus Christy and the saints. We have only 
to take up the Sacred Scriptures, to see how sedu- 
lously our Divine Lord varied the matter and the 
form of his instructions, according to the capacity 
of those whom He addressed. With the doctors 
of the law He spoke a language elevated and 
closely reasoned, full of analogies and deductions 
logically drawn from intricate and difficult passages 
of the Old Testament. When He addressed the 
people it was in the most simple and familiar 
manner. His words are clear, and his language 
contains many short maxims, easy to retain and 
full of substance.* In order that He may be more 
easily and fully comprehended, He descends to the 
most humble comparisons, such as those of the 
labourer, the husbandman, the vine, and others, 
drawn from subjects which were constantly before 
the eyes of the people. As St. Mark tells us, He 
only spoke of those matters which they were able 
to understand, Pront poterant awtire.f He ab- 
stained from those which were above their compre- 
hension : Adhuc habeo multa dicere vobis, sed non 
potestis portare modo.% Following the example of 
his Divine Master, St. Paul addressed the Corin- 

* Sermon on the Mount. t Mark, iv. 33. % John, xvi. 12. 



j 82 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

thians, not as spiritual persons but as those standing 
in need of the most simple and elementary instruc- 
tion : Tanqaam parvulis in Chi isto lac vobis dedi, 
non escam ; nondum enim poteratis* Such, too, has 
been the teaching and the practice of all the saints 
of God. What can be clearer or more carefully- 
adapted to the capacity of his hearers than the 
Homilies of St. Gregory the Great? How excel- 
lently he reduces to practice the precepts which he 
deduces and lays down from the words of Job, 
Super illos stillabit eloqaium meum.f " He who in- 
structs others," says this holy doctor, " must accom- 
modate himself to the weakness of his hearers. He 
must allow his instruction to fall upon them little 
by little, drop by drop, according as they are able 
to receive it, abstaining" from everything which is too 
deep to be useful to them. He who acts otherwise," 
he concludes, "seeks not the salvation of souls, 
but his own glory." In fine, to use the language of 
that great missionary bishop, St. Liguori : " If you 
are not bound to speak in such a manner as to be 
intelligible to the lowly and the ignorant, why do 
you summon them to the church r You only lose 
your own time and render the "Word of God useless 
to them. . . . But so far as I am concerned," adds 
the holy bishop, " I shall not have to render an 
account to God for my sermons, for I have always 
preached in such a manner as to render myself 
easily understood by the most simple and ignorant 
of my hearers." 

* 1 Cor iii. 2. t Job, xxix. 22. 



INSTRUCTION- 1S3 

In addition to these arguments, we might also 
show how the preacher who neglects to adapt him- 
self to his audience is unfaithful to the discharge of 
his duty as an ambassador of God to men — an office 
which imposes upon him the obligation of making 
known, in the clearest and most unequivocal man- 
ner, the will of his Master, and of doing his utmost 
to persuade his hearers to obey that will and reduce 
its precepts to practice. We might show how he 
might just as well not pretend to preach at all. 
We might show how such a preacher is utterly 
without excuse, since there is no man wiio cannot 
make himself understood if he will only take the 
pains to render his discourse clear, simple, and 
practical; but we have said more than enough to 
establish the general principle, and it is now time 
to descend from the consideration of these general 
principles to their particular application. 

It is very rarely that we form a just idea of what 
a discourse requires to be in order that it may be 
fully adapted to the capacities and necessities of 
the special audience whom we have to address. We 
are too ready to imagine that others can have no 
difficulty in comprehending that which is so clear 
to us, and we forget the immense distance which 
there is between the understanding of the man of 
liberal education and that of him who has received 
little or none of such intellectual culture, him who 
is incapable of seizing any thought, or any turn of 
expression which is not put with the greatest clear- 
ness: and this is the first mistake which the preacher 
makes. 



i84 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

The second error consists in supposing that, in 
order to accommodate ourselves to the capacity of 
our hearers, we must speak in careless, unculti- 
vated, and perhaps undignified language. We for- 
get that the Word of God must always be treated 
with respect, and in such a manner as to command 
the esteem and veneration of our hearers : and we 
also forget that simplicity of expression is com- 
patible with the greatest purity and correctness of 
style. 

Thirdly, we are too ready to imagine that, in 
order to speak simply and in such a way as to suit 
our hearers, we must speak without preparation, 
expressing whatever presents itself to us at the 
moment. W T e could make no greater mistake than 
this, as we have already shown in Chapter II. Let 
it suffice to repeat in this place, that the more 
ignorant our audience are, the greater is the neces- 
sity and obligation of careful preparation, in order 
to render ourselves intelligible to them. The man 
of education, of trained mind and acute intellect, 
will probably have no difficulty in seizing our 
meaning ; but it requires no ordinary preparation, 
no ordinary amount of patience, of tact, and of 
reflection, to address with profit and success an 
uncultivated and uneducated audience ; to accom- 
modate and adapt our ideas of spiritual things, and 
Our way of conceiving them, to the ordinary turn of 
their thoughts — thoughts so unaccustomed to be 
employed upon such matters, and running in such 
different lines from our own. It is, in truth, a 
matter of no ordinary difficulty to secure this essen- 



INSTRUCTION. 1 85 

tial simplicity and clearness without forgetting the 
respect which is ever due to God's holy Word ; 
and yet, unless we succeed, to what end, as St. 
Liguori demands, do we summon the poor and the 
lowly to listen to that instruction which is more 
necessary for their soul's salvation than the air 
which they breathe is for the life of their body ; that 
instruction which we are bound, by solemn obliga- 
tions which may not be neglected, to impart to 
them ? 

In order, then, practically to secure this essential 
adaptation of our discourse to our audience, we 
must carefully study their character, dispositions, 
position in life, their necessities and requirements, 
and frame our sermon in such a manner as to 
satisfy these conditions so far as may be within our 
power. 

For example, if our audience be composed of 
simple and unlettered persons, it is evident that a 
familiar and catechetical instruction is what is 
most suitable to them. If they consist of educated 
and more highly cultivated persons, the discourse 
to be addressed to them must necessarily be of a 
more elevated character, more elaborate both in 
conception and execution. If we have to address 
a mixed congregation, we must select such a sub- 
ject and such a mode of treatment, as will interest 
the better educated, and at the same time be oi 
practical utility to the more ignorant. 

On all ordinary occasions we should be careful 
to select such simple subjects for our sermons as 
are within the reach of every capacity. We should 



J 36* BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

be equally careful, in our development of the sub- 
ject, to employ no proofs or reasons, no comparisons 
or examples, no historical illustrations, either sacred 
or profane, which may not be easily intelligible to 
any ordinary intellect. The only preacher who is 
truly useful is he who is content, when such a course 
may be necessary, to sacrifice learning, and, in one 
sense, reputation to utility ; he who is content to 
confine himself simply to that which may suit his 
hearers the most perfectly ; he who considers, not 
what will be most pleasing to himself, or his own 
educated tastes, but most conducive to the solid 
instruction and sanctification of his flock. 

Having thus discreetly chosen our subject in 
view of the special needs of our auditory, the next 
step is to arrange our matter with the greatest 
order and method. This point has been sufficiently 
explained in Chapter IV., when treating of the 
plan and unity of a discourse. We will merely add 
that, of course, nothing conduces so much to order 
and clearness as good and exact definitions and 
divisions. Exact definitions cast a wonderful light 
upon our subject, and assist us in the most effica- 
cious manner to lead our hearers from the magis 
nolum to the minus notum ; whilst good divisions 
enable both speaker and audience to see at a glance 
the principal parts or ramifications of the discourse, 
thus preventing confusion of ideas, and securing 
precision of thought and of expression. 

(5.) Having thus secured the essential adaptation 
of our subject to our special audience, having ar- 
ranged our matter in an orderly manner, all that 



INSTRUCTION. 1 87 

requires to be done for the attainment of perfect 
clearness is to select such words and phrases as 
are most proper to express the idea to be conveyed, 
and to arrange those words and phrases in such a 
manner as to form well-constructed, strong, and 
harmonious sentences. 

Clearness depends much upon the employment 
of such individual words and phrases as are most 
proper to express the idea to be conveyed. There 
are no words which are perfectly synonymous in 
meaning. Hence, there is for every idea some 
word which expresses it more perfectly and com- 
pletely than any other, and that speaker is most 
clear who best knows how to employ this precise 
word. "Without entering into the purely rhetorical 
part of the subject, we will lay down some general 
rules on this matter which the young preacher will 
find useful. 

The first and most essential rule regarding the 
use of words is that they be pure English. This sup- 
poses, not only that the words and phrases which 
the preacher employs belong to the English lan- 
guage, but that he employs them in the precise 
manner, and to express the precise meaning, 
which custom has assigned to them. Words may 
be faulty in three respects : they may not express 
the idea which the author intends, but some 
other which only resembles, or is akin to it; 
they may express the idea, but not quite fully and 
completely ; or they may express it, together with 
something more than he intends. When a speaker 
uses words in this loose manner he is said to be 



f 8S BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

guilty of an Impropriety. This arises, of course, 
from an ignorance of the difference or distinction 
which exists between words that are nearly synony- 
mous, or that have some resemblance in sense or 
sound. To these faults is opposed the quality of 
Precision, which is only acquired by long study of 
approved authors, and much careful practice in 
composition. From the neglect of or inability to 
secure precision arises what is known as a loose 
style. 

When a speaker employs words w x hich are not 
recognised as pure English he is said to be guilty 
of a barbarism. This fault may be incurred in three 
ways: ist. By the use of words that are entirely 
obsolete, as uneath, whilom, &c. 2ndly. By the 
use of words entirely new, as cognition, effluxion, 
from the Latin, or dernier resort, from the French. 
This rule, however, suffers many exceptions, and 
is greatly governed by public opinion and taste. 
3rdly. By the use of new formations, or by com- 
positions from simple and primitive words which 
are in present use. Greater licence is allowed in 
this than in the two preceding cases, provided the 
English analogy be carefully preserved. 

Although, strictly speaking, he might be guilty 
neither of impropriety nor barbarism in their use, 
the preacher, in view of the special end which is 
before him, should also avoid all merely scholastic 
terms, as essence, accidents, personality, genus, and 
species ; all abstract terms, as spirituality, mysticism, 
asceticism, which the common people do not under- 
stand; and all expressions drawn from mystical 



INSTRUCTION. 1 89 

language, as the spiritual life, the animal man, &c, 
terms which, although quite plain and familiar to 
ecclesiastics and spiritual persons, are by no means 
equally so to even educated laics. 

We subjoin the following practical remarks on 
the employment of words from Rev. Professor 
Barry's valuable " Grammar of Eloquence." 

" In choosing words and phrases, the following 
rules will serve to guide the writer : — 

u 1. When the choice lies between two words, 
one with a single meaning, the other with more 
than one, take the former. ' Obvious ' is better 
than * apparent,' which means also ' not real/ 

" 2. Adhere to analogy as far as possible. ' Con- 
temporary ' is better than * (^temporary ; ' because 
in words compounded with the inseparable prepo- 
sition con, the n is retained before a consonant, but 
expunged before a vowel. 

"3. When no other test will decide between two 
words, that ought to be preferred which is most 
agreeable to the ear. 'Delicacy' is preferred 
to ' delicateness/ 'incapability' to ' incapableness.' 

" 4. A simple form of expression is to be pre- 
ferred to a complex one. 'Accept ' is better than 
* accept of,' 'admit' than ' admit of.' 

" 5. In cases of doubt, adhere to ancient usage. 

" 6. All words and phrases which are remark- 
ably harsh and inharmonious are to be avoided^ 
unless when absolutely necessary. Such objection, 
able modes of speech may be sometimes found in 
good authors. A term composed of words already 
compounded, or difficult of utterance, is generally 



I go BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

to be avoided. Care, however, must be taken not 
to deprive the language of strength in order to con- 
sult for its elegance. Inharmonious words are such 
as 'unsuccessfulness,' ' inaccessibleness,' 'patheti- 
calness.' 

"7. Avoid obsolete words; foreign or strange 
terms unsanctioned ; vulgar contractions, as ' gent' 
for gentleman, ' gemmen' for gentlemen ; bom- 
bastic words, as ' potentiality' for power ; poetical 
words in prose composition, as * morn ' for morning, 
' oft ' for often ; vulgar, indelicate, or slang words ; 
local or provincial terms. 

8. "Avoid unmeaning phrases, as 'with half an 
eye,' ' less than nothing.' 

"9. Avoid affected phrases, as 'glorious, high- 
domed, blossoming world.' ' Their hot life-phrensy 
cooled.' 

" 10. Avoid Greek and Latin and foreign 
phrases, unless absolutely necessary, as ' pos.-e 
comitatus,' 'pro and con,' 'sine qua non/ 'baga- 
telle,' 'jeu d'esprit.' 

"11. Avoid provincial phrases, called 'Angli- 
cisms, Cockneyisms, Scotticisms, Irishisms, Ameri- 
canisms.' 

"12. Avoid vague and general terms whenever 
a precise idea is to be conve}*ed. Select the word 
which conveys most nearly and exactly the idea to 
be expressed." 

(c.) In order to secure perfect clearness of lan- 
guage, not only must the words and phrases se- 
lected be such as are most proper to express the 
idea to be conveyed, but they must also be arranged 



INSTRUCTION. igi 

in such a manner as to form well- constructed, 
strong, and harmonious sentences. 

A sentence is a collection of words txpressing a 
judgment or decision of the mind about the agree- 
ment or disagreement of ideas. It principally con- 
sists, of course, of a subject, a verb, and if the verb 
be active, an object on which the action denoted by 
the verb is exercised. A sentence may be simple 
or complex, as it contains one or more members ; 
but the principal thing to be borne in mind is, that 
in every perfect sentence there is expressed a com- 
plete and finished judgment of the mind about the 
agreement or disagreement of the ideas which it 
contains. This, although constituting the very 
foundation, not merely of elegance, but of absolute 
correctness in languag'e, is a matter which is too 
much overlooked and neglected by young speakers 
or writers, who not unfrequently leave their subject 
without its verb, or their verb without its object. 

Mere correctness in the formation of a sentence 
is secured by a competent knowledge of English 
Grammar — and this, of course, we take for granted 
in the preacher or ecclesiastical student. Our pre- 
sent purpose is, not to consider those qualities 
which secure mere correctness, but those which 
produce strong, vigorous, and harmonious sen- 
tences. Taking also for granted a due knowledge 
and appreciation of that fundamental rule in Eng- 
lish composition, that the words or members most 
nearly related should be placed as near as possible 
to each other in the sentence, in order that their 
mutual relation may obviously and immediately 



192 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

appear, we shall probably best describe the quali- 
ties which produce strong and well -constructed 
sentences by indicating the defects which produce 
the contrary result. 

Weakness and obscurity of language arise prin- 
cipally from three causes : from a bad arrangement 
of adverbs and pronouns, from the doubtful posi- 
tion of a circumstance in the middle of a sentence, 
and from too artificial a construction of such 
sentence. 

The faulty collocation of adverbs and pronouns 
is the source of endless confusion, and of much 
weakness, in the composition of sentences. The 
only practical rule on the matter is, to place the 
adverb in such a position as to indicate most 
clearly the verb, adjective, or other adverb which 
it qualifies. Ordinarily, adverbs, and more espe- 
cially " only " and " always," are placed as near as 
possible to the word which they are intended to 
qualify. Personal pronouns should clearly point 
out the noun for which they stand. They should 
not be introduced too frequently in the same sen- 
tence An indiscreet and too frequent repetition 
of personal pronouns in a sentence is a source of 
great ambiguity. Whenever, on account of such 
repetition, the noun to which the pronoun refers 
may become at all doubtful or obscure, the noun 
must be repeated. The relative pronoun should, 
instantly and without the least obscurity, present 
its antecedent to the mind of the reader or hearer ; 
and, in order to secure this, it should be placed 
as near as possible to such antecedent, since, 



INSTRUCTION. 193 

notwithstanding all our precautions, the relatives, 
who, which, that^ whose, and whom, often create a 
certain degree of ambiguity in a sentence, even 
when there can be no doubt as to the ante 
cedent. 

Weakness and obscurity sometimes result fro^D 
the doubtful position of a circumstance or clause 
in the middle of a sentence. The preacher should, 
as much as possible, carefully avoid all such cir- 
cumlocutions, incidental phrases, useless epithets 
or expressions, as merely add word to word without 
in any way developing his meaning, or rendering 
it more clear. He should necessarily aim at dis- 
posing the words and members of his sentence in 
such a manner as to bring out the sense to the best 
advantage, to render the impression which he 
designs to make most full and complete, and to 
give to every word and member its full weight and 
force. To secure this he must prune his sentences 
of all redundant words and members, so that every 
word shall present a distinct or separate idea, and 
every member a distinct or separate thought. 

Weakness and obscurity also arise from too 
artificial a construction of a sentence, as when its 
structure is too complicated, or when the sense is 
too long suspended by parenthesis, or too difficult 
to seize. These long-winded sentences are, accord- 
ing to St. Francis of Sales, the pest of preaching. 

They weary even an intellectual audience, whilst 
they render the preacher's meaning unintelligible 
to the simple and uneducated. When, from the 
nature of the case, the period necessarily contains 

13 



194 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

several members, and thus becomes more or l^ss 
complicated, a short parenthesis introduced ir the 
proper place will not in the least interfere with 
clearness, and may add both strength and vivacity 
to the sentence. Without falling into the opposite 
extreme, the preacher, as a general rule, will do 
well to prefer short sentences to long ones. We 
have said, without falling into the opposite extreme, 
since, if the sentences be too much cut up, the 
preacher's style becomes harsh and irregular, dry, 
meagre, and undignified. 

Although, absolutely speaking, a sentence may 
be well-constructed and strong without being har- 
monious, still, as a general rule, such a sentence 
will possess some degree of harmony, since this 
harmony is the result of a happy choice of words, 
and a felicitous arrangement of the members of a 
period, qualities which are found, in a higher or 
lower degree, in every perfect sentence. 

Those words are most pleasing and most condu- 
cive to harmony which are composed of smooth and 
liquid sounds, with a proper mixture of vowels and 
consonants; without any harsh or grating conso- 
nants, or many open vowels, which cause a hiatus 
or disagreeable gaping of the mouth. According 
to Blair, it may always be assumed as a general 
principle that, whatever sounds are difficult in pro- 
nunciation are, in the same proportion, harsh and 
painful to the ear. Vowels give softness, conso- 
nants strength, to the sound of words. The music 
of language requires a just proportion of both. 
Long words are commonly more pleasing to the 



INSTRUCTION. 1 95 

ear than monosyllables, on account of the composi- 
tion or succession of sounds which they present to 
it. Tho^e long words are most musical which do 
not run wholly either upon long or short syllables, 
but are composed of a mixture of both, such as 
repent, produce, impetuosity, &c. &c. 

As regards the arrangement of its members, it 
is evident that the music of a sentence depends 
much on their proper distribution, and on the close 
or cadence of the whole. On this point it will 
suffice to say, that the rests of the voice should be 
so arranged at the termination of each member of 
the sentence, so as to make the breathing of the 
speaker easy, and that they should fall at such dis- 
tances as to bear a certain musical proportion to 
each other. This musical proportion, or cadence, 
requires the greatest care and most skilful manage- 
ment. It depends, probably, more on the posses- 
sion of what we call a musical ear and a cultivated 
taste than on any technical rules, although rhetori- 
cians lay down many rules on this matter wmich 
may be studied with profit. We may assert as a 
general principle that, in order to render our ca- 
dence perfect, the longest members and most sonor- 
ous words in our sentence must be reserved for the 
conclusion. Amongst our English classics not 
many are distinguished for musical arrangement, 
or for any very laboured efforts after mere harmony. 
We may safely affirm that no writer, ancient or 
modern, equals Cicero in the harmonious structure 
and disposition of his periods, in the plena ac 
nwnerosa oratio. He studied this matter with a 



igd BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

care that perhaps was excessive, but with a success 
that was complete and unequivocal. 

Thus, without ever descending to vulgarity, or 
forgetting what is due to the dignity of the pulpit, 
by a careful study of the manners, habits, and in- 
tellectual calibre of those whom he is to address, so 
that, as far as is possible, he may conceive his sub- 
ject as they conceive it, and render his ideas in 
those figures, comparisons, and turns of thought 
which are most familiar to them, as being those 
which they themselves are accustomed to employ ; 
by a discreet and practical application of the simple 
rules which we have indicated, and which his own 
ever-growing experience will best teach him how 
to apply to special circumstances and to peculiar 
wants, the young preacher will obtain for his dis- 
course the essential quality of clearness. 

In conclusion, we will only remark that, whilst 
the preacher, in his instructions to his flock, will 
aim at correctness and purity of language, he will 
also remember that for him, as a preacher of the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ, and in view of the special 
end which he must necessarily propose to himself, 
there is something infinitely more important than 
any mere correctness or elegance of language. 

Hence, whenever it may be necessary, in order 
to render himself better understood, he will not 
hesitate to sacrifice the graces, and, in one sense, 
even the purity of language Following the counsel 
of St. Augustine, he will study the most intelligible, 
rather than the most elegant manner of expressing 
what he has to say. Evidentice appetitus aiiquando 



INSTRUCTION. 19; 

V ' ... ' 

negligit verba culiiora, nee curat quid bene sonet, sed 
quid bene indicet quod ostendere intendit.* For, as 
asks this holy doctor, what is the use of expressing 
our ideas in the most polished manner, of what use 
is the purity and elegance of our style, if our hearers 
do not comprehend our meaning ! Quid prodest 
hcutionis integritas quam non sequitur intellectus 
a dieutis?^ And he further illustrates his meaning 
by a very ingenious comparison. Quid prodest, he 
inquires, dam's attrea si aperire quod volumus nou 
potest, aut quid obest lignea si hoc potest ?% 

But let the preacher bear in mind, whilst he 
strives to follow these wise precepts in his practice, 
that this style of speaking requires both intellect 
and skill. Let him not delude himself by supposing 
that, in order to speak with this perfect simplicity 
of language and of style, he must therefore descend 
to what is low or undignified. Hcec sic ornatum 
deirahit ut sordes non contrahat.% Let him rather 
remember that in this, as in many other cases, the 
perfection of art consists in concealing art. Ars 
artis celare artem. It is of such simple instruction 
as this that Cicero is speaking when he says, Neg- 
h'gentia est ditigens ;i| and he says what is most 
true, since this simple, and, at first sight, apparently 
negligent manner of preaching", indicates the man 
who is more solicitous about the solid instruction 
which he is to impart to his flock than about the mere 
words in which he is to express it ; the man who is 

* De Doct. Christ., lib. iv., 24. t Ibid. + Ibidi 

§ Ibid. || Orat. Ixxvii. 



Ig8 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

much more anxious about the interests of his Master, 
and the welfare of his people, than his own gratifica- 
tion as a scholar, or his reputation as a preacher. 

It is scarcely necessary to add that instruction 
requires a plain, simple, and unadorned style. 
There may be place for beautiful figures of speech* 
and powerful oratorical developments, in other parts 
of a discourse ; but there is no room for them, and 
nothing but the worst taste would seek to introduce 
them, in the purely explanatory and instructive 
portions of a sermon. 

Section III. 

The Manner of proving the Christian Doctrine, 

We have said that the instruction which forms 
the substantial portion of the body of a discourse 
comprises two things, viz., a clear explanation of 
Christian doctrine, and the establishment of it by 
solid proofs and arguments. We have already 
shown that, although there are cases in which 
nothing more than a simple explanation and prac- 
tical application of the Christian doctrine is re- 
quired, it is not sufficient, as an ordinary rule, to 
explain the truths of religion. These truths must 
be sustained by strong and convincing arguments. 
In the last section we endeavoured to elucidate the 
nature and the manner of imparting this necessary 
explanation of Christian doctrine, and it now re- 
mains to consider the mode according to which the 
argumentation, or sustaining of our proposition by 
solid proofs, is to be conducted. 



INSTRUCTION. 199 

There are two principal methods employed by 
orators in the conduct of their argumentation, the 
analytical and the synthetical. When the orator 
conceals his intention, and gradually leads his 
hearers on from one known truth to another, until 
the conclusion is forced upon them as the natural 
consequence of a chain of propositions, he uses the 
analytic method For example, wishing to prove the 
existence of God, the preacher sets out by showing 
that whatever exists must have had a beginning ; 
that whatever had a beginning must have had a 
cause ; that man exists and had a beginning, and 
that therefore he must have had a cause ; but 
that, from his nature and constitution, he could 
have been called into existence by no other than 
the one, great, infinite, Supreme First Cause, or 
God. This is a very artful and very beautiful mode 
of reasoning, but there are very few subjects which 
will admit it, and there are fewer occasions in which 
the preacher will find it proper to employ it. The 
mode of reasoning more fitly and generally adopted 
by the pulpit orator is the synthetic, in which the 
point or points to be proved are fairly and openly 
laid down, and one argument after another is 
brought to bear upon them until the hearer is fully 
and completely convinced. Thus, in a sermon the 
preacher openly lays down, in his proposition, the 
one great Christian truth which he intends to carry 
home to the hearts of his hearers, and then, in his 
division, he unfolds the different points of view 
under which he proposes to consider and establish 
this truth. 



200 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

It is evident that the effect of an argument de- 
pends upon the tact with which it is chosen, the 
skill with which it is brought to bear at the most 
felicitous moment, and the force with which it is 
urged, or in other words, amplified. Hence, we 
lay down, and now proceed to establish the general 
principle, that the excellency of this most essential 
part of a discourse may be said to depend on three 
points, the invention and selection of arguments, the 
due arrangement of them, and their amplification. 



Section VI. 
Selection of Arguments. 

By the invention and selection of arguments we 
understand the collection of a certain number of 
solid and convincing proofs, whether they be the 
fruit of our own intellect, or whether they be 
gleaned from approved sources, bearing upon the 
matter in hand — the truth to be established. Ever 
keeping in mind how essential solid argument is to 
every really good discourse, since, although he may 
not absolutely win the hearts of his hearers by it, 
it is the foundation upon which all his ulterior 
efforts in the way of persuasion are to be built, the 
preacher will probably be assisted in his selection 
of proofs by attending to a few simple and practical 
rules which we venture to suggest : 

i. He ought never to select and advance from 
the pulpit any argument which he does not feel to 
be really solid. The preacher forgets his high 



ARGUMENTATION. 201 

calling, and the dignity of the Gospel which he 
preaches, when he endeavours to sustain it by a 
weak or foolish argument. There is no truth of 
our holy faith which is not supported by the most 
powerful and convincing arguments, and if a 
preacher does not bring forward these proofs it is 
either because he has not taken the trouble to 
study the matter on which he thus presumes to 
speak without preparation, or because he has for- 
gotten his theology. 

The very least that we expect in a preacher is an 
accurate and expedite knowledge of moral theo- 
logy, and of the Catechism of the Council of Trent. 
With such a knowledge he can never go astray in 
teaching, nor will he ever be under the necessity 
of advancing a weak or foolish argument in sup- 
port, or, to speak more truly, in derision of our 
sublime and holy Faith. 

If he have never acquired this necessary know- 
ledge he most certainly is not in a position to 
enter the pulpit, or take upon himself the office of 
teacher in matters so holy in themselves and so 
momentous in their consequences, where the pro- 
pounder of false doctrine, or the unsound teacher, 
may be the cause of perdition to many souls. 

If he have not taken the trouble to keep up the 
knowledge which he acquired during the years 
of his ecclesiastical probation, with so much pains 
and hard study on his own part, and with so much 
assiduous care and zealous watchfulness on the 
part of his masters, he has good reason to tremble 
when in his culpable ignorance he ascends the 



ZQl BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

pulpit, lest he incur the terrible denunciation, Male* 
dictus qui facit opus Dei negligenter* 

The preacher who advances a weak or foolish 
argument exposes our holy Faith to the derision of 
the impious, who readily discover its unsoundness, 
whilst, at the same time, they suppose or persuade 
themselves that the other dogmas of our religion 
rest upon an equally rotten foundation. Such an 
argument is the ruin of a sermon, since one false 
or foolish proof lays the whole discourse open to 
suspicion : it inspires our hearers with a contempt 
for ourselves and our doctrine, and it is very fre- 
quently the only part which they retain and of 
which they speak. Better and more becoming a 
thousand tim«s not to attempt to advance argu- 
ments in support of the eternal truths of God, if we 
are not able to bring forward such as are solid in 
themselves, and worthy of the Gospel which we are 
privileged to preach. 

2. The preacher should not endeavour to crowd 
into one sermon of half an hour's duration all the 
proofs which can be brought to bear upon the 
matter which he treats. It is vastly better to select 
those which, positis ponendis, he considers the best 
for his purpose, without troubling himself about 
the others. As we have just said, it is impossible 
to compress within the limits of one sermon all the 
proofs which may be adduced in support of any 
truth, doctrinal or moral. The preacher who may 
attempt to do so can at the best but merely glance 

• Jerem. xlviii, to. 



ARGUMENTATION. 20} 

at his arguments without entering thoroughly into 
any one of them ; and, thus treating them, he will 
produce a much weaker impression, and do less 
towards convincing his hearers than if he had con- 
fined himself to a few good arguments and de- 
veloped them in a more masterly and more com- 
plete manner. Moreover, there are comparatively 
few in an ordinary congregation who are able to 
follow a long series of arguments and demonstra- 
tions. Even supposing that an audience were able 
to follow the preacher, such a course of proceeding 
would necessarily render a sermon dry and uninte- 
resting. Directing his discourse entirely to the 
head, the preacher would leave no room for those 
powerful appeals to the heart, which move the will, 
carry it captive, and render it pliant to his purpose. 

3. The preacher ought to take great care to se- 
lect those proofs which are not merely best in 
themselves, but best relatively to his audience, and 
to prefer those which they will seize most easily, 
which will interest them the most powerfully, and 
produce the greatest impression upon them. 

It is a very great mistake to suppose that the 
proof which is strongest per se, is always, therefore, 
the strongest relate ad auditor em. It requires no 
words to show that if an argument be above the 
capacity of one's hearers, or if it be calculated from 
its nature to make no impression upon them, it 
will be weak, fruitless, and ineffective in their re- 
gard, no matter how strong it may be in itself. 
F > r example, the metaphysical argument for the 
existence of God which is derived from the neces- 



204 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

sity of a first cause is most solid and unanswerable 
in itself, and yet anyone can see that it would be 
useless if addressed, in its purely metaphysical 
shape, to an audience of simple and unlearned 
persons, from the very fact that it would be above 
their comprehension. 

The preacher, and the young one especially, 
should therefore be on his guard against that 
natural impulse which inclines us to believe that 
others, although simple and unlettered, will easily 
seize those arguments which appear so plain and 
conclusive to us. He should be equally on his 
guard against employing profound arguments, or 
uncommon and far-fetched proofs, when addressing 
unlearned persons, such as form the majority of all 
ordinary congregations. His feeling should always 
incline towards the more common and ordinary 
arguments in favour of any doctrine. They are 
pretty certain to be the best and most powerful 
when considered relatively to an audience. They 
have become common simply because they are so 
true, and a congregation always listens to them 
with pleasure and profit, especially when the 
preacher takes the pains to present them in a pleas- 
ing and attractive manner. 

4. In order to convince himself of the relative 
strength of his arguments, the preacher ought to 
ask himself whether, if they were proposed coolly 
and calmly in ordinary conversation, they would 
produce the effect which he desires ; and whether, 
if he were in the place of the sinner whom he seeks 
to convert, he himself would be converted by his 



ARGUMENTATION. 205 

own arguments. If they will bear this test he may 
safely and confidently adopt them. 

Whilst treating of this very important matter, 
the selection of arguments, we may earnestly re- 
commend to the attention of the young preacher 
the method which was adopted on this point by the 
great orator Massillon. " When," he says, " I 
have to preach a sermon, I imagine that someone 
has consulted me on a matter of very grave import- 
ance on which he and I do not agree. I apply, 
therefore, all the powers of my intellect and my 
heart to convince and to persuade him ; I press 
him,Iexhorthim, and I do not leave him until I have 
fairly and completely gained him to my side." Ad- 
mirable words, and full of practical wisdom ! Imi- 
tating the example of this great orator, this master 
in Israel, the preacher ought, when selecting his 
arguments, to imagine himself face to face with 
someone who is deeply imbued with false ideas or 
inexact notions on the matter which he is about to 
treat. He applies himself, in the first place, to ex- 
plain the matter in hand so clearly that it cannot 
possibly be misunderstood. Then he proceeds to 
advance his arguments, frequently asking himself, 
Is this proof solid, is it clear, is it unanswerable ■ 
Is it adapted to the understanding of my adver- 
sary ? Will he comprehend it r What difficulty 
can he advance against it, and how shall I answer 
him fully and triumphantly ? Will he, as a reason- 
able and honest man, be obliged to admit the force 
of my arguments r When the preacher can give to 
himser? a satisfactory answer on all these points he 



206 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

may be satisfied with the choice of arguments 
which he has made, and rest assured that if he em- 
ploy them with a pure intention, and advance them 
with simple, earnest zeal, they will be powerful in- 
struments in his hands for procuring the glory of 
God, and the salvation of immortal souls, the end 
and aim, as we have frequently remarked, of all his 
labours and of all his preaching. 



Section V. 

Arrangement of Arguments, 

Supposing our arguments properly chosen, it is 
evident that their due effect will depend in a great 
measure upon the manner in which they are ar- 
ranged. If they be not placed in due order, if they 
jostle or embarrass one another, if they do not all 
bear directly and with the fullest weight upon the 
subject in debate, it is clear that much of their 
effect will be lost. The strength of an army docs 
not depend so much upon the number of soldiers 
which it contains as upon the skill with which they 
are disposed and arranged. In the same way, our 
arguments must be arranged, combined, and dis- 
posed, so as to form one perfect whole, having for 
its end the perfect development and establishment 
of one great leading truth. 

It is not so easy, however, to lay down specific 
rules for the arrangement of arguments as it is to 
prove the necessity of such an order; since the 
effect of their arrangement depends, not merely 



ARGUMENTATION. 207 

upon the matter of the arguments themselves, 
but upon an infinite number of circumstances 
which cannot be foreseen. Peculiar circumstances 
may have such an influence upon the arrange- 
ment of one's proofs that it may sometimes be 
expedient to commence a discourse with argu- 
ments which, according to received rules, should 
be placed at the conclusion. Whilst, therefore, 
we proceed to lay down some general rules on 
this matter, we take it for granted that these rules 
must suffer many exceptions, and that on this point, 
more perhaps than any other, much must be left 
to the good sense and experience of the preacher. 

1. As an ordinary rule, the order of our proofs 
will be suggested by the very nature of the sub- 
ject which we treat. In a sermon, too, the preacher 
advances in the first place the arguments which 
will help his hearers to understand and appreciate 
the full force of those which are to follow. He 
passes from what is more general to what is par- 
ticular, from the genus to the species, from that 
which is easy to that which is difficult, from the 
known to the unknown. 

?\ T ature herself suggests to us to group together 
those arguments which appertain to the same 
order, and which, being comprised in the same 
general idea, tend to the same end. It is contrary 
both to good sense and to order to pass from one 
line of arguments to another, and then return after 
awhile to the first. For example, it is contrary to 
good order to establish our point in the first place 
by proofs from authority, then to proceed to proofs 



208 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

from reason, returning in the end to arguments 
from authority. Thus, if we were treating of any 
virtue or vice, it would be essentially out of order 
to speak first of its obligation, then of its effects, 
and lastly, to return to the proofs for its obligation. 
We must take each point in due order, as ex. g. f 
the necessity of humility, and its utility, as shown 
in the advantages which it brings to man, peace 
with God, with his neighbour, and himself; and, 
having sufficiently proved each point, we must 
pass on to the next without returning to that which 
has been already established. 

"Whilst nature herself suggests to us to group 
together those arguments which are in the same 
order, she points out with equal clearness the im- 
propriety of blending those which are of a separate 
nature. All arguments tend to prove one or other 
of three things, that something is true, that it is 
morally right and just, or that it is profitable and 
good, since these are the three great principles by 
which mankind is governed — truth, duty, and in- 
terest. At the same time, the arguments for estab- 
lishing these great motives of action are generically 
distinct, and, as they are addressed to different 
principles in human nature, should be kept sepa- 
rate and distinct in reasoning, and not, as is 
often the case in sermons, be confusedly blended 
under one general topic. If, for example, I am 
preaching on the love of my neighbour, I may 
take my first argument from the inward satisfaction 
which a benevolent temper affords, my second 
Jrom the obligation which Christ imposes upon 



ARGUMENTATION. 20G. 

us of loving our neighbour, and my third from its 
tendency to procure us the good- will of those around 
us. My arguments are good in themselves, but, 
according to Dr. Blair, I have arranged them 
wrongly. My first and third are taken from con- 
siderations of interest^ and between these I have 
introduced, one which rests solely upon duty, thus 
rendering my reasoning obscure and confused. 

2. The second thing to be observed in the order 
of arguments is to dispose them in such a manner 
that, as far as possible, the discourse may continu- 
ally advance in strength by way of climax, ut 
aitgeatur semper et increscat oratio ; that each proof 
may excel that which preceded it, that the cont- 
ending ones may be the strongest, the best adapted 
to move our hearers, to leave them without reply — 
the subjects of an intimate and profound conviction. 

Some rhetoricians assign the following order of 
proofs — Fortiora, Fortia, Fortissimo,. They sup- 
pose the argumenta fortia to be somewhat weak 
and feeble, and so place them between the strong 
arguments with which the orator should commence 
and those still more powerful ones with which he \ 
should conclude his discourse. t 

It may be well doubted whether the Christian 
orator is ever under the necessity of employing any 
arguments except those which are Fortiora and 
Fortissimo-, but if it ever be- necessary or expedient 
to use such as are less strong, less conclusive, or 
merely suasory, the above is certainly the order in 
which they should be arranged. 

In any case the preacher reserves his most tell- 

14 



210 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

ing arguments for the conclusion of his discourse, 
since the last impressions remain most vividly 
impressed upon the minds of his hearers, and since 
this is the decisive moment of the argumentative 
conflict. Now or never is he to gain his victory. 
By a succession of powerful and telling proofs he 
has been gradually gaining upon his hearers, 
gradually preparing the way for complete and 
unequivocal conviction, and now, like a skilful 
general, he comes in at the decisive moment, with 
all the force of his last and most unanswerable 
argument, and carries all before him. 

And not only must the preacher most carefully 
follow this form of argumentation as regards the 
various proofs by which he may establish any one 
point of his discourse, but also as regards the 
points themselves. The strongest and most telling 
point must be placed the last. 

Nor must he lose sight of what we have already 
sufficiently dwelt upon in another place, viz., that 
on all these matters we speak not absolutely but 
relatively. Hence, in the plan of a discourse at 
page 92, he will sec that we have put in the first 
place the argument deduced from the views of 
God, and in the last that derived from the senti- 
ments of different classes of men at the hour of 
death. Now the argument from the views of God 
is per se a much stronger argument than the one 
derived from the sentiments of the dying, and yet 
w© have put this in the last place because being, 
in gome measure, an argumentum ad hominem, it 
[iOfsesbfis a munh greater relative force, and if 



ARGUMENTATION. 2 1 1 

well developed will produce a much more power- 
ful effect, simply because it is so much more sen- 
sible. In the same way, although the proofs which 
rest on the Divine Authority are naturally stronger 
than those which are derived from reason or ex- 
ample, it does not always follow that they are to 
be put in the last place, simply because there are 
many circumstances in which, although stronger in 
themselves, they are less effective than those other 
arguments which, although essentially weaker, 
have a more immediate and telling effect upon the 
heart of man. 

Hence, the order so generally followed in ar- 
ranging our proofs — i. From Holy Scripture or 
the Divine Authority. 2. From the Fathers, as 
explaining or commenting on the meaning of 
Scripture, &c. &c. 3. From the motives furnished 
by reason, as the utility and advantages of virtue, 
or the evil consequences of the contrary vice. 4. 
From examples and comparisons, as illustrating 
the matter and rendering it more practical and 
sensible. 5. From the answers to any objections 
wnich the preacher may think fit to advance. This 
is the order which we are inclined, omnibus pen- 
satis, to consider the most useful, and it is that 
which is most generally followed. It is that re- 
commended by Father Lohner, no mean authority 
on the matter, who thus speaks of it : " H<zc 
methodus, uti, clanssima et faciilima, ita pro ptebe 
instruenda aptissima est."* It is also the one re- 
commended by St. Francis de Sales. 

* Pe jaunere concionandi, 



212 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

Canon Bellefroid, in his erudite and elegant 
work,* seems to prefer an order which differs 
somewhat from the above. " It will be found use- 
ful," he writes, " to employ, in the first place, 
proofs from reason. These kind of proofs are 
adapted to the capacity of all the world, and they 
prepare the way for the authorities which we in- 
tend to invoke. Next will follow Holy Scripture, 
which, in seeming to make some concession to 
reason, will really subjugate and gain it to the side 
of the Divine Authority. As there may be some 
ambiguity or obscurity of meaning in the texts which 
are quoted, we introduce the testimony of the 
Fathers, who are at once the most natural and 
the most authoritative interpreters of Holy Writ. 
Finally, we introduce examples which may help to 
confirm the doctrine which we have laid down, 
render it more striking, and encourage our hearers 
to reduce it to practice by placing attractive and 
engaging models before their eyes." The order, 
then, followed by Bellefroid, and it is also that 
of Pere Caussin the Jesuit, is — i. Proofs from 
reason. 2. From Scripture. 3. From the Fathers. 
4. Examples. 

It is probably a matter of very little consequence 
which of these arrangements the preacher may 
adopt. As we have just remarked, we are inclined 
to prefer the former as an ordinary rule. It is 
scarcely necessary to add that this arrangement is 
equally applicable to the discourse which contains 

• Manuel d'Eloquence Sacr^e. 



ARGUMENTATION. 213 

a formal division, as to that which merely aspires 
to the establishment of the general proposition 
which may be laid down without any attempt to 
divide it into its component parts. For example, 
if the discourse be not divided into " points," the 
general proposition may be proved from Scripture, 
the Fathers, reason illustrated by examples, &c. 
&c., and then the ist Point of the sermon will be 
proofs from Scripture, &c, and the 2nd Point 
proofs from reason, &c. If the proposition be di- 
vided, then each point may be established in pre- 
cisely the same order, the only difference being 
that, when there are several points to be proved, 
the various arguments will not, of course, bear the 
same amount of development as when the preacher 
has simply to sustain the proposition in its general 
aspect, without any relation to those special bear- 
ings which are brought out in a division. 

We have said that our arguments maybe arranged 
in this order, but let not the young preacher sup- 
pose that he is therefore always bound to prove his 
proposition, or the points into which he may divide 
his discourse, from Scripture, the Fathers, reason, 
&c. it may sometimes be quite sufficient to estab- 
lish his point from Scripture alone, or from tradi- 
tion, or from reason. It is difficult, as we remarked 
at the commencement of this section, to lay down 
any specific rules on this matter, since it is impos- 
sible to draw up any rules which will meet all the 
circumstances of the case. We have done all that 
was in our power, viz., to glance at those general 
principles on which all are agreed, and we must 



214 BODY OF Til ti DISCOURSE. 

leave their special application to the good sense, 
the watchful zeal, and the ever-growing experience 
of the pastor of souls 

All that remains to be said on this matter is, 
that, after having arranged the order of his proofs, 
the preacher must take care to connect them natu- 
rally one with another, so that they, may constitute 
the integral and well-arranged members of a body 
whose special characteristic is unity. This connec- 
tion which binds one proof to another, one part of 
a discourse to another, is known by the name of 
" Transition." Transition is that form of expres- 
sion or that turn of thought which the preacher 
employs in order that he may pass naturally, with- 
out violence or abruptness, from one subject to 
another, from one argument to another. This 
natural transition is of the utmost importance, since 
without it a discourse is nothing more than a hash, 
composed of various parts which approach without 
ever uniting, which succeed one another without 
following.* The most excellent transitions are those 
which spring from the very essence of the subject 
itself, and have an equal relation to that which 
the preacher has said as to that which he is about 
to say. 

" Transitions, which are only built on the mechan- 
ism of the style, and merely consist in a fictitious 
connection between the last word of the paragraph 
which finishes, and the first word of the sentence 
which begins, cannot, with propriety, be admitted 

• Van Hemel : " Precis de Rlietorique Sacree.* ~ 



ARGUMENTATION. 21c 

as natural, but are rather forced combinations. 
True rhetorical transitions are such as follow the 
course of the reasoning, or sentiment, with ease, 
almost without art, and unperceived by the hearer ; 
such as unite the materials of the discourse, instead 
of merely suspending some phrases upon each 
other ; such as bind the whole together, without 
obliging the preacher to compose a new exordium 
to each subdivision which his plan exhibits to him ; 
such as form an orderly and methodical arrange- 
ment by the simple unfolding of the ideas, in some 
measure imperceptible to the orator himself: such 
as call for, and correspond with, each other by an 
inevitable analogy, and not by an unexpected asso- 
ciation ; such, in fine, as meditation produces by 
suggesting valuable thoughts, not such as the 
pen furnishes in its search after combined resem- 
blances."* 

Massiilon, in his sermon on the chanty of the 
great, thus passes from the first part of his dis- 
course to the second. " If," says he, " charity to- 
wards the people is the first duty of the great, is it 
not also the greatest luxury of their greatness V 
Instead of searching for some intermediate idea by 
which to pass from one point of the discourse to 
another, as a less skilful orator would have done, 
he makes use of the very fundamental idea of the 
whole discourse for this purpose. Arguments con- 
nected by skilful transitions are, according to 
Cicero, like stones so thoroughly polished that they 

•Maury. 



2 lb BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

unite without the ai d of cement. A discourse whose 
parts are thus skilfully united resembles a work of 
art which is cast in one piece, where the eye looks 
in vain for seam or joint. As the object of these 
transitions is to enable the preacher to pass grace- 
fully and without violence from one argument or 
point to another, it follows that the more natural 
they are the more effectually they will attain their 
end,. 



Section VI. 

Amplification of Arguments, its Nature and Neces- 
sity. Sources of A mplification : — Sacred Scriptu re ; 
the Fathers ; Theology, Scholastic and Ascetic ; 
Comparisons, Examples, and Parables ; Reason. — 
Examples. 

Although the effect of our reasoning depends very 
much upon the due selection and arrangement 
of our arguments, it depends still more upon their 
amplification, or, in other words, upon the force 
vigour, beauty, and practical application with 
which they are put. 

The student will see at a glance that "pure 
reasoning" and "amplification," although most 
strictly connected, are not precisely one and the 
same thing. The latter is a development of the 
former. United, they present truth in its strongest 
and most engaging colours, and in such a manner 
as to bring it home, not only to the understanding, 
but also to the heart. 



ARGUMENTATION. 21 7 

Reasoning embraces all sorts of questions and 
all sorts of discourses, and reduces everything to a 
syllogism. Amplification comes into play when it 
is not merely sufficient to form a* good argument, 
but when it is equally necessary to form it in such 
a manner, and to express it in such language, as 
will render it intelligible to the persons to whom it 
is addressed, and powerful for the purpose which 
the speaker proposes to himself in employing it. 

Reasoning addresses itself simply to the under- 
standing, and has no other object than to convince. 
Amplification addresses itself to the heart as well, 
and seeks to influence and act upon the will, thus 
partaking of the nature both of conviction and per- 
suasion. 

It is quite certain that every good argument is 
reducible to a syllogism, but it is equally certain 
that the orator must disguise the naked skeleton, 
the form of his argument, under the beauties of 
language. The syllogism holds the same relation 
to a discourse as the bones and muscles do to the 
human body. These, if seen in their nakedness, 
present a repulsive spectacle, and the syllogism, 
although containing the form of a vigorous argu- 
ment, is simply distasteful and loathsome when 
presented to an audience in its logical dryness and 
its uninviting plainness. 

Putting persuasion altogether out of the question, 
it would be simply impossible to get an audience 
to follow that succession of dry, sharp, conclusive 
syllogisms which would be the glory of a logician. 
Being under the painful necessity of following the 



2l8 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

discourst with an attention at full strain, since if 
one link of the chain of reasoning be lost the whole 
argument is irretrievably gone, they would soon 
give up attempting to follow at all ; whilst there 
would be many who, spite of their deepest atten- 
tion, would not be able to comprehend the drift or 
bearing of an argument conducted in this manner. 
The discourse being thus rendered unintelligible to 
many, and unpardonably dry to all, would become 
altogether useless and without fruit. We may ex- 
press, and fully announce a great leading truth in 
even a single syllogism, but the force of an argu- 
ment thus expressed would most surely escape the 
comprehension of any ordinary congregation, unless 
it were explained and developed ; or, in other 
words, amplified. The germ of the argument ought 
to be contained in, or at least be easily reducible 
to a syllogism, but it is the duty of the rhetorician, 
in contradistinction to the logician, to develop this 
germ, and, by the aid of language and the resources 
of oratory, to render it not merely intelligible, but 
pleasing and attractive to all. 

This is what is understood by the amplification 
of arguments, and hence it is no wonder that the 
great masters of oratory attach so much importance 
to it. " Una laus et propria oratoris" says Cicero, 
" summa laus eloquenticB) amplijicare rem ornando" 

Amplification is the great means of rendering 
argument telling and effective. Instruction ex- 
poses an obligation, a dry proof establishes it, while 
amplification explains it nature, its grandeur, and 
its claims. Amplification acts upon a proposition 



ARGUMENTATION . 2 1 g 

like rain upon the seed, causing it to grow and to 
develop itself. Amplification renders clear and 
intelligible that which before was perhaps scarcely 
perceptible. It throws light upon all the parts of 
a discourse, by bringing them out under different 
aspects and different points of view, giving warmth 
to what was cold and life to what was dead. It is 
true to say that by amplification arguments are 
really explained and rendered intelligible, that they 
are proved and made to penetrate the heart, realis- 
ing the truth of the principle advanced by Quintilian 
when he affirms that the real strength of the orator 
is shown in the force with which he can amplify 
and develop his arguments. 

From all this it sufficiently follows how much the 
success of a preacher depends, not only upon his 
powers of reasoning correctly, but of reasoning 
strongly and vigorously, of bringing his argument 
before his hearers not only in its truest, but also in 
its most attractive light, and adorned with all those 
graces which can be imparted to it by vivid con- 
ception, by brilliant images and ideas, and by 
chaste and polished language. 

Let the young preacher, therefore, aspire to 
reason closely and well : but let him also aspire to 
reason with elegance and vigour. Let him strive 
his utmost to gain such a command of language 
as will enable him to clothe his reasons in the 
most just and beautiful terms ; to present them in 
all their varied aspects to his people ; to shield 
them under the authority of God's word ; to render 
them sensible by comparisons and examples ; to 



220 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

support them by arguments ad hoj?iinem, as his ex- 
perience and prudence shall suggest to him. Every- 
thing which serves to cultivate his taste, elevate his 
style, and render him a man of pure mind and of 
deep feelings, will serve to cultivate and develop 
his powers of amplification. 

Whilst, however, the young preacher will cer- 
tainly aspire to this faculty of amplification, he 
will, at the same time, be discreet in its employ- 
ment. In the first place, he will never use it except 
to render his discourse more clear, more solid, 
or more effective. If his idea be already sufficiently 
developed, and sufficiently intelligible to his flock, 
it would be worse than useless to spend time in 
amplifying it. The truth would be simply smothered 
under a superfluity of expression, and obscurity 
instead of greater clearness would be the result. 
And hence it is that a great facility of speaking is 
often a very fatal gift. 

Secondly, he will amplify, not by merely heaping 
together empty words and meaningless phrases, 
but by multiplying the sense and adding something 
new to what he has already said. This is true ampli- 
fication, and it is very different from that which 
consists in repeating the same idea in almost 
synonymous terms. 

Thirdly, he will amplify in such a manner that 
his discourse may continually increase in force, 
that, as he advances, it may become more clear, 
more animated, more strong and energetic. 

Fourthly, he will do well to follow the example 
of Massillon, who used to imagine that his adver- 



ARGUMENTATION, 221 

sary was present, and to study to arrange all his 
amplification in such a manner as to pursue him 
with all the force of his reason and with all the 
vehemence of his zeal, until he was completely 
gained and won to the side of virtue. 

Premising that our remarks are equally appli- 
cable to that verbal amplification of proofs which 
consists in words, as to that real amplification 
which is founded either in climax, in the amplifica- 
tion of comparisons and examples, or in the con- 
sideration of the circumstances of the subject ; and 
begging the student to bear in mind the principles 
laid down at page 73 when treating of " The Medi- 
tation and Conception of our Subject," we will now 
briefly consider the leading sources whence the 
preacher is to draw, as well his proofs themselves 
as his ideas and his matter for their amplification, 
and these may be reduced to two, viz. : the loci 
communes of preaching, and the loci communes of 
rhetoric. 

By the loci communes of preaching we understand 
the Sacred Scripture, the writings of the Fathers, 
and the acts of Councils, together with all those 
works of scholastic and ascetic theology which 
form the overflowing fountain whence the preacher 
can always draw, and where he can never fail to 
find ample matter with which to instruct and to 
move on all those great subjects which he will most 
frequently be called to treat : such as the import- 
ance of salvation, death, judgment, heaven and 
hell, the love of God and the Passion of Jesus 
Christ, the general considerations upon the benefits 



2 22 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

of God, the virtues, and vices, the sacraments, 
prayer, &c. &c. Premising, too, that the loci com- 
munes of preaching correspond to the " Extrinsic 
Sources or Topics " of the rhetorician, and the loci 
communes of rhetoric to the " Intrinsic Sources or 
Topics," we now proceed to devote a few words to 
the consideration of these loci, as they are techni- 
cally called. 

It does not require many words to prove that the 
Holy Scripture must always be the preacher's great 
resource, the storehouse ever full of the most use- 
ful and sublime matter which he can require. In- 
deed, his preaching is but a development of this 
divine book, an explanation of the word of God. 
" Prcedica verbum" says the great Apostle of the 
Gentiles. Being, as he is, the ambassador of God 
to men, it is fitting that the preacher should re- 
ceive from that God Himself the word which he is 
charged to carry to them : a messenger from heaven, 
it is becoming that he speak in its language. This 
word of God, this language of heaven, is contained 
in Holy Writ, and it is just in proportion as the 
preacher makes it the foundation of his discourse 
that he has a right to say with St. Paul, " In me 
loquitur Christus. . . - Posuit in nobis verbum re- 
conciliationis. . . . Deo exhortante fer ?ws."* 

The word of man is at best but dead, and incap- 
able of bringing forth fruit unto salvation ; but the 
word of God is full of life, containing within itself 
a hidden virtue which persuades and moves. It 

* % Cor, v ( 19. 



ARGUMENTATION. 223 

is, as the Holy Ghost expresses it, a fire which in- 
flames the most insensible, a hammer which rends 
the heart that is as hard as the very rock, a sword 
which penetrates even into the most hidden parts 
of the soul. 

Experience amply proves that there is a special 
grace attached to the words of Holy Writ, and that 
the truths which the preacher builds upon some 
text of Scripture, the bearing of which he has inti- 
mately mastered and powerfully developed, are 
those which produce the greatest impression and 
remain longest in the minds of the hearers. 

But, if Holy Scripture be thus useful to an audi- 
ence, how much more precious is it to the preacher 
himself? The apostle tells us that it is equally 
useful for all the ends of preaching, whether it be 
for the establishing of dogma or the explaining of 
the mysteries of the Faith, for the developing of 
moral or the destruction of vice. " Omnis scriptura 
droimtus inspirata, utilis est ad docendiun, ad argu- 
endo m, ad tompimdum, ad erudiendum in justitia, 
ut ptrfecius sit homo Dei, ad omne opus bonum in- 
struct us."* 

St. Augustine assures us that the preacher will 
excel in the ministry of the word in proportion as 
he is a master of Holy Scripture. Sapienter dicet 
tanto wag is vet minus, quanto in scripturis Sanctis 
magfs minusve projecit.^ 

In effect, the word of God imparts to the lan- 
guage of the sacred orator an authority and a force 
which it can never derive from any other source. 
• 2 Tim, iii, 16, 17, f De Doct. Christ, lib. iv. 3, 



224 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

As man naturally carries in his heart, together 
with the idea of the Divinity, a deep veneration for 
it, so the consecrated style of the holy writings 
imparts to a discourse a touching majesty which 
inspires us with virtuous sentiments, and which 
commands our respect and submission all the more 
effectually because it obliges us to love the truth 
which is preached. The unction of the Holy Ghost 
flows like a sweet odour upon those sacred writings. 
The love of God, devotion to his service, charity 
towards our neighbour, and forgetfulness of self; 
in a word, all the most tender, the most sublime, 
and the most holy affections which can animate 
the soul of man, spring from them like a fragrant 
perfume. We cannot read these sacred pages 
without feeling a deep love for their Author, and 
an ardent desire of fulfilling his holy precepts, and 
it is easy to recognise the preacher who is pene- 
trated with their spirit by the unction which flows 
so sweetly from his lips. 

As we have shown in a former part of this work, 
whatever subject he may have to treat, the preacher 
who is well versed in the Scriptures will there find 
something with which to embellish his matter, to 
render it more touching and full of interest. Not 
only will he there find examples suitable to every 
condition and state in life, as Joseph, Ruth, Job 
Jeremiah, the Machabees, Abraham, David, Saul, 
&c, but he will also discover the most magnificent 
figures of speech, and the highest flights which 
oratory has ever attained strewn over its pages as 
thickly as the stars in the firmament of heaven. Thes§ 



ARGUMENTATION. 225 

beauties of the Sacred Writings, these fruits of the 
inspiration of the Holy Ghost, soar immeasurably 
above the loftiest efforts of profane orators and 
poets, and furnish the preacher who knows how to 
avail himself of them with an inexhaustible store 
of matter, by the aid of which he can, with the 
greatest facility, impart life and warmth, energy 
and strength, to his discourse. 

Hence we see that the Holy Fathers have always 
regarded the Scripture as the principal source 
whence the preacher is to draw matter for the 
amplification of his arguments. What they taught 
in this regard they first practised themselves. 
They made these Divine Writings the subject of 
their continual study In them they found the 
substance of their most solid instructions. They 
developed the histories which are contained in 
the Bible, and explained its difficulties. They 
applied its lessons to all the duties of the Christian 
life, and when they wished to treat of a virtue or a 
vice, it was thence they drew their most powerful 
motives for the practice of the one and the avoiding 
of the other. In the Sacred Scripture Bourdaloue 
finds his strongest arguments, Bossuet his most 
telling comparisons and his most lively images, 
Massillon the matter for his most beautiful and 
striking developments. 

In one word, it is an incontestable truth that the 
Scripture has been the sacred mine whence the 
greatest writers and preachers whom the world has 
seen have derived their choicest matter. From the 
prophets they have drawn the feeling and the pathos, 

IS 



226 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

and from the historical booics the edifying his- 
tories which grace their discourses. In the Psalms 
they have discovered the most lively and affecting 
sentiments of piety, in the Book of Wisdom the 
wisest rules of morality and conduct, and in the 
Gospels the holiest precepts and counsels of per- 
fection. 

To the same source must the young preacher 
also go to seek his purest inspirations and his 
loftiest ideas. He must study the Scripture from 
beginning to end, as St. Augustine advises, " Totas 
legerit nostasque habuerit, eisi non inteiledu, tamen 
lectione"* so that he may not miss a single vein of 
this priceless and inexhaustible mine. He must 
study it with a profoundly religious sentiment, as 
befits the Word of God, with such a lively faith 
as will engrave its most striking passages indelibly 
on his mind. He must endeavour to render its 
language familiar to himself, to employ its expres- 
sions and turns of thought as much as possible, 
and, above all, to make it the matter of his medi- 
tation, as he will make the grace to understand 
and to appreciate its meaning the subject of his 
frequent prayer. 

By meditation and prayer the preacher will be- 
come filled with the spirit of these Sacred Writ- 
ings. God will speak to him as He did to Ezechiel 
of old, " Comede volnmen istud, et vadens loquere 
filiis Israel!'^ Applying to himself the beautiful 
commentary of St. Jerome on this text : "Devour 

f Pe Doc, Christ,, lib, ii, 8* f Kzech. iif. r. 



ARGUMENTATION. 227 

this holy book by assiduous study, digest it by 
deep meditation, cause it to become part of your 
very substance, before you presume to preach to 
my people." He will go forth, strong in the power 
of God's word, to carry the glad tidings of salva- 
tion to those who sit in darkness and the shadow 
of death. Then shall his feet be beautiful as the 
feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, of 
them that bring glad tidings of good things. Then 
shall his sound go forth into all the earth, and his 
words unto the ends of the whole world. Then 
shall his preaching be blessed indeed, causing men 
to call upon the name of the Lord, and causing 
them to be saved. Then, indeed, as men listen to 
r ; m shall they recognise in him a true minister of 
God, a true ambassador of Christ, and confessing 
with their mouths the Lord Jesus, and believing 
in their hearts, they shall be saved. Then, in- 
deed, going forth in the name, and as the chosen 
minister of God, with the words of his commission 
ever ready on his lips, ever welling up from the 
abundance of his heart, he shall produce much 
fruit — a fruit that shall remain unto everlasting 
life, a fruit that shall cause him, who has instructed 
others unto justice, to shine like a star in the firma- 
ment of God for all eternity. 

After the study of Holy Scripture and the Fathers, 
the young preacher must find the most copious and 
most appropriate matter for his amplification in 
theology, scholastic and ascetic. An exact know- 
ledge of scholastic theology is essential to every 



2 28 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

preacher. Proclaiming the truth to men in the 
name of God, not only must he not err, but he must 
be quite certain that he does not err, and that he 
exposes the truths of the Gospel in all their purity. 
Without an exact knowledge of theology he will 
err, or at all events be uncertain in his teaching. 
In dogma, he will confound what is of faith with 
what is not. He will be neither exact in his expo- 
sition of doctrine, nor solid in his proofs, and hence 
he will lead his flock into error, or disturb their 
faith. In morals, he will confound counsels w T ith 
precepts ; that which is of perfection with that 
which is of obligation ; that which under certain 
circumstances may be tolerated, with that which 
semper et pro semper must be rigorously forbidden; 
and thus he will, through his laxity or his undue 
severity, give his people false consciences, and be 
the cause of innumerable sins in them. 

Not less essential to the preacher is a ready and 
practical knowledge of ascetic theology, or the 
science of sanctity It is the duty of the pastor of 
souls to draw his people from sin and to form them 
to virtue , to give strength to the feeble, and to 
assist the just to run on with giant strides in the 
way of holy perfection In order to do this he 
must know the rules by which souls are governed, 
by which the} break off from sinful habits, are 
fashioned to virtue, and gradually elevated to the 
highest perfection. He must have an intimate 
knowledge of those conditions which elevate ordi- 
nary actions to the supernatural! order; and he 



ARGUMENTATION. 2 2Q 

must be prepared to point out the road by which 
all, no matter what their state or condition of life, 
may reach the mountain of perfection. 

Now, all this supposes a very intimate knowledge 
of the spiritual life and of the principles by which 
it is directed. This necessary and all-essential 
knowledge can only be acquired by the practice of 
constant meditation, and the diligent study of such 
works as treat of this matter. Foremost amongst 
these works are the admirable treatise of Rodriguez 
on the practice of " Christian and Religious Per- 
fection ;" the " Knowledge and Love of Jesus 
Christ/' by Pere Saint-Jure ; the " Love of God/' 
by St. Francis de Sales ; the " Imitation of Christ," 
the " Spiritual Combat," the l< True Spouse of 
Christ" (for religious persons especially), by St. 
Alphonsus ; the Catechism of the Council of Trent, 
&c. &c. With the practical and expedite know- 
ledge which he will acquire from the studious, 
careful and daily reading, so far as circumstances 
may permit, of the^e or similar \vorks ; from his 
own pious meditations, and his own growing ex- 
perience as he advances in the ministry, the pastor 
of souls will never be at a loss either for solid and 
effective matter for his sermons, or true, definite, 
and solid principles by which to guide his flock in 
the way of salvation 

As the loci communes of preaching assist the 
sacred orator to establish and develop his proposi- 
tions by the aid of Scripture, tradition, and those 
other sources which are, in a rhetorical sense, 
" Extrinsic " to the subject itself, so the loci com- 



2JO BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

mun.es of rhetoric also help to conduct the preacher 
to his end, by enabling him to develop and illus- 
trate that subject by considerations drawn from its 
very nature, and from those qualities which belong 
"Intrinsically" to it. 

The loci communes of rhetoric, or in other words, 
" Intrinsic Topics " or " Proofs from Reason," may 
be reduced to Genus and Species, Definition, Enu- 
meration of Parts, Contraries, Circumstances, Cause 
and Effect, Comparisons, including Examples and 
Parables. Although these " Topics " are the foun- 
dation of all arguments drawn from reason, and 
are the fertile sources of powerful and varied ampli- 
fication, we shall, inasmuch as the study of them per- 
tains to rhetoric strictly so called, content ourselves 
in this place with briefly glancing at them : treating, 
however, at a little more length, of Comparisons, 
Circumstances, Examples, and Parables, since they 
are of the most importance to the preacher, and since 
they are to be considered under a point of view 
which is to a certain extent peculiar to themselves. 

Genus and Species are correlative ideas, one of 
which cannot be understood without the other. 
The preacher employs this "Topic" as the founda- 
tion of an argument by considering what his sub- 
ject possesses in common with other subjects, and 
what it has which is peculiar to itself, ex. g., does 
not every virtue {genus) merit our admiration? 
How is it, then, that we make so little account of 
Christian watchfulness [species] which can alone 
secure youth against the dangers of temptation ? 

Definition supplies us with the foundation of 



ARGUMENTATION. 23 1 

argument by enabling us to explain the nature of 
any object through the development of its essential 
qualities. Definition is of the greatest utility, as 
well in enabling us to give the clearest idea of an 
object as in furnishing us with matter for amplifica- 
tion. The philosophical definition confines itself 
to the words which are strictly necessary, whilst 
the oratorical definition develops and explains the 
nature of the object in a striking and pleasing 
manner, ex. g. } the philosopher would content 
himself with describing scandal, as " any unbe- 
coming word or deed affording to another the 
occasion of spiritual ruin ;" whilst the orator would 
not merely describe the absolute nature of the 
offence, but the punishment due for it, and the re- 
paration which it requires, thus obtaining most 
probably not only the introduction to, but the 
points of, his discourse. 

Enumeration of Parts consists in running through 
and detailing the various parts of whioh an object 
is composed, in order to fix the attention upon 
those particulars which are best adapted to estab- 
lish or to prove any truth. It differs from the de- 
finition in this, that it enters more into details, ex.g., 
Massillon, wishing to prove that there are com- 
paratively few Christians who merit salvation 
through the innocence of their lives, runs through 
all the states, conditions, and occupations of men, 
and thence deduces his conclusion. 

Contraries* The force of the argument which is 
drawn from this source consists in destroying the 
effect of one idea by opposing to it the still greater 



2^2' BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

weight of its contrary, and by showing that the 
two cannot exist at the one time, or in the same 
subject. Massillon, in his sermon on the small 
number of the elect, thus deduces an argument 
from this source: "You admit," says he, "that it 
is necessary to renounce the world, the flesh, the 
devil and his works ; and yet, I perceive in your 
whole life and conduct nothing but attachment to 
the world, to sensuality, and to the devil and his 
works." 

By Circumstances , in this rhetorical point of view, 
we may consider' the place in which any action 
occurred, the persons who were concerned in it, with 
all those qualities which might distinguish them, 
together with all the incidents which preceded, ac- 
companied, or followed it. These circumstances, 
which are embodied in the well-known verse, 
" Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, 
quando" may be employed with great propriety 
and vigour in the consideration of the Passion of 
Christ, and other kindred subjects. 

Cause and Ejfect. Through the aid of this 
"Topic" the orator develops or demonstrates any 
truth or fact by an exposition of causes, primary 
or secondary, essential or accidental, and of effects 
which, naturally or essentially, flow from them. 

Comparisons, when properly employed, are of 
the greatest advantage in amplifying* and develop- 
ing a discourse. They must be drawn from objects 
well known to our hearers, otherwise, as is evident, 
they will only add obscurity instead of clearness 
to it. The Holy Scripture is our best guide in this 



ARGUMENTATION. 233 

respect. It is full of comparisons which are taken 
from the most ordinary subjects, as the human 
body, the gnat, the ant, the dog" which returns to 
his vomit, the tree, the sowing, and the harvest, 
the vine, the shepherd, the husbandman, &c. In 
the employment of comparisons, although we may 
take them from lowly or familiar objects, we must 
never forget the dignity of the pulpit, or descend 
to language which may not be strictly just and be- 
coming. We must not spin them out too much, or 
press them too far, since the axiom, " Omnis com- 
faratio claudicat" is strictly true. Employed with 
these limitations, and under these conditions, com- 
parisons impart a wonderful clearness, reality, 
interest, and force to a discourse. They render it 
intelligible to the most simple and unlearned, full 
of interest and attraction to the more cultivated, 
impart the clearest light to the subject which we 
treat, and, in a word, bring it home to the audi- 
ence. 

Examples, when judiciously selected, are not less 
useful than comparisons The most listless audi- 
ence will brighten up when the preacher commences 
to illustrate his argument by examples; and, as 
they listen to him more willingly, so do they retain 
more easily the argument thus enforced. The rules 
which have been laid down for comparisons must 
also be followed in the employment of examples. 

The Parable is a comparison which we disguise 
under the form of a historical fiction, in order to 
add greater clearness and life to our subject. It has 
the same effect as the example. It interests and 



234 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

reanimates the flagging attention of our hearers, 
by bringing the truth which we wish to inculcate 
in the most vivid manner before them. It has a 
peculiar charm for children and simple persons, 
and is most useful in helping them to understand 
definitions which they frequently find it difficult to 
comprehend. The use of the parable comes to us 
consecrated by the example of our Divine Lord, 
who o r ten employed it when preaching to the lowly 
and the ignorant; and it may well be doubted 
whether the most finished efforts of human genius 
and oratory have ever produced such deep and 
lasting effects in souls, as those which have been 
wrought by the simple recital of the divine parables 
of the Prodigal Son, the Lost Sheep, &c 

By the diligent and assiduous working of these 
loci, above all, by their practical application to the 
peculiar intelligence, position, and necessities of 
his flock, it is impossible that the preacher can 
ever be at a loss for abundant matter with which, 
not only to convince, but to please and to move his 
flock. Veritas pateat y Veritas placeat, Veritas moveat. 
We now proceed to give some examples of amplifi- 
cation of arguments. 



Examples. 

Amplification by Cause and Effect. — Massillon, 

In his sermon on the certainty of a future state 
Massillon lays down his principle, "That all does 
not die with us," and then proceeds to establish it 



ARGUMENTATION. 235 

by a consideration of the ridiculous and impious 
consequences which necessarily flow from the doc- 
trines of the unbeliever. He thus powerfully con- 
cludes the first portion of his argumentation : — 

" If all die with us, domestic annals and th< 
train of our ancestors are only a collection of chi 
meras ; since we have no forefathers, and shall hav< 
no descendants, anxieties for a name and posterit) 
are therefore ridiculous ; the honours we render to 
the memory of illustrious men a childish error, 
since it is absurd to honour what has no existence . 
the sacred respect we pay io the habitations of the 
dead, a vulgar illusion ; the ashes of our fathers 
and friends, a vile dust which we should cast to the 
winds as belonging to no person ; the last wishes 
of the dying, so sacred amongst even the most 
barbarous nations, the last sound of a machine 
which crumbles in pieces ; and, to comprise all in a 
word, if all die with us, the laws are then a foolish 
subjection ; kings and rulers, phantoms whom the 
imbecility of the people has exalted; justice, an 
usurpation on the liberties of men ; the law of mar- 
riage, a vain scruple ; modesty, a prejudice; honour 
and probity, chimeras ; incests, parricides, and the 
blackest villainies, pastimes of nature, and names 
which the policy of legislators has invented. . . . 
The uncertainty of the believer is then suspicious in 
its principle, foolish in its proofs, and horrible in 
j*3 consequences." 

Amplification by Comparison — Massillon. 
Massillon employs comparisons, drawn from 



2 35 BODY CF THE DISCOURSE. 

Scripture, with extraordinary felicity and grace. 
Xor is Bossuet less happy in their employment, 
sometimes comparing the journey of the Christian 
to heaven to that of the Israelites traversing the 
desert to the promised land, sometimes comparing 
life to a road which terminates in heaven, &c. We 
subjoin several brief examples. 

i. On the Word of God. " We may apply to the 
greater part of our hearers what Joseph addressed 
to his brethren when disguising himself from them. 
It is not to seek for corn and nourishment that you 
have come hither. You have come as spies to see 
the nakedness of the land. * Exploratores estis ; at 
videatis infirmiora terra? venistis?* It is not to 
nourish yourselves with the bread of the word 
that you have come to listen to us : it is that you 
may discover our failings and pass your censures 
upon them." 

2. 0?i true Worship. "You resemble the altar 
of tabernacles of which Holy Scripture makes men- 
tion. It was covered with pure gold, the outside 
was brilliant to look upon, but the interior was 
empty : ' Non erat sol:dum y sod jiius vacuum,'^ says 
the Spirit of God In vain do you immolate those 
strange victims which the Lord does not seek. 
Your passions have never been immolated belore 
the sanctity of God. You have but the exterior 
appearance of piety, interiorly you are void of faith 
and of w 7 orks. Intus vacuum" 

* Gen. xliii, 9. t Exod. xxxviii. 9. 



ARGUMENTATION. 237 



Amblification by Examfle — Massillon. 

Massillon thus beautifully enforc ?s the obligation 
of fasting by examples : " God does not measure 
your infirmities by your titles, but by his law. 
David was a prince whom the delicacies of royalty 
ought surely to have softened ; read in his divine 
canticles the history of his austerities. If you 
imagine that sex should give you any privilege, I 
will show you that Esther, in the midst of a proud 
court, knew how to afflict her soul by fasting. 
Judith, so distinguished amongst the children of 
Israel, bewailed the death of her spouse in fasting 
and sackcloth. The Paulas, the Marcellas, those 
illustrious Roman matrons, sprung from the rulers 
of the world. Oh ! what examples of austerity 
have they not left to succeeding generations }" 



Amplification by Circmnstances — Dr. Newman and 
Archdeacon CfKeeffe. 

Dr. Newman truly excels in his wonderful powers 
of amplification, and the student could take no 
better model for his guidance in this matter. We 
subjoin two brief examples. 

" Look at that poor profligate in the Gospel, look 
at Dives ; do you think he understood that his 
wealth was to be spent, not on himself, but for the 
glory of God r — yet for forgetting this he was lost 
for ever and ever. I will tell you what he thought, 
and how ho viewed things : — he was a young man, 



2 -$8 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

and had succeeded to a good estate, and he deter- 
mined to enjoy himself. It did not strike him that 
his wealth had any other use than that of enabling 
him to take his pleasure. Lazarus lay at his gate : 
he might have relieved Lazarus : that was God's 
will ; but he managed to put conscience aside, and 
he persuaded himself he should be a fool if he did 
not make the most of this world, while he had the 
means. So he resolved to have his fill of pleasure ; 
and feasting was to his mind the principal part of 
it. * He fared sumptuously every day ;' every- 
thing belonging to him was in the best style, as 
men speak; his house, his furniture, his plate of 
silver and gold, his attendants, his establishments. 
Everything was for enjoyment, and for show too ; 
to attract the eyes of the world, and to gain the 
applause and admiration of his equals, who were 
the companions of his sins. These companions 
were doubtless such as became a young man of 
such pretensions ; they were fashionable men : a 
collection of refined, high-bred, haughty youths, 
eating, not gluttonously, but what was rare and 
costly ; delicate, exact, fastidious in their taste, 
from their very habits of indulgence; not eating 
for the sake of eating, or drinking for the sake of 
drinking, but making a sort of science of their sen- 
suality ; sensual, carnal, as flesh and blood can be, 
with eyes, ears, tongue, steeped in impurity, every 
thought, look, and sense, witnessing or ministering 
to the evil one who ruled them ; yet with exquisite 
correctness of idea and judgment, laying down 
rules for sinning; — heartless and selfish, high, 



ARGUMENTATION. 239 

punctilious, and disdainful in their outward de- 
portment) and shrinking from Lazarus, who lay at 
the gate as an eyesore, who ought for the sake of 
decency to be put out of the way. Dives was one 
of them, and so he lived his short span, thinking 
of nothing, loving nothing but himself, till one day 
he got into a fatal quarrel with one of his godless 
associates, or he caught some bad illness; and 
then he lay helpless on his bed of pain, cursing 
fortune and his physician that he was no better, 
and impatient that he was thus kept from enjoying 
his youth, trying to fancy himself mending when 
he was getting worse, and disgusted at those who 
would not throw him some word of comfort in his 
suspense, and turning more resolutely from his 
Creator in proportion to his suffering ; — and then 
at last his day came, and he died, and (O miser- 
able !) was buried in hell. And so ended he and 
his mission." — God's Will the End of Life. 



"It is an old story and a familiar, and I need 
not go through it. I need not tell you, my brethren, 
how suddenly the word of truth came to your ances- 
tors in this island, and subdued them to its gentle 
rule ; how the grace of God fell on them, and, with- 
out compulsion, as the historian tells us, the mul- 
titude became Christian ; how, when all was 
tempestuous, and hopeless, and dark, Christ, like 
9, vision of glory, came walking to them on the 



240 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

waves of tne sea. And suddenly there was a great 
calm ; a change came over the pagan people in 
that quarter of the country where the Gospel was 
first preached to them ; and from thence the blessed 
influence went forth, it was poured out over the whole 
land, till one and all, the Anglo-Saxon people, were 
converted by it. In a hundred years the u'ork was 
done ; the idols, the sacrifices, the mummeries of 
paganism were cast away to the c moles and bats/ 
and the pure -doctrine and heavenly worship of the 
cross were found in their stead The fair form of 
Christianity rose up and grew and expanded like 
a beautiful pageant from north to south ; it was 
majestic, it was solemn, it was bright, it was beauti- 
ful and pleasant, it was soothing to the griefs, it 
was pleasant to the hopes of man; it was at once 
a teaching and a worship ; it had a dogma, a mys- 
tery, a ritual of its own ; it had an hierarchical form. 
A brotherhood of holy pastors, with mitre and 
crosier, and hand uplifted, walked forth and blessed 
and ruled the joyful people. The crucifix headed 
the procession, and simple monks were there with 
hearts in prayer, and sweet chants resounded, and 
the holy Latin tongue was heard, and boys came 
forth in white, swinging censers, and the fragrant 
cloud arose, and mass was sung, and the saints 
were invoked ; and day after day, and in the still 
night, and over the woody hills, and in the quiet 
plains, as constantly as sun and moon and stars 
go forth in heaven, so regular and solemn was the 
statelv march of blessed services on earth, high 
festival, and gorgeous procession, and soothing 



ARGUMENTATION. 2d I 

dirge, and passing bell, and the familiar evening 
call to prayer ; till he who recollected the old 
pagan time would think unreal what he beheld 
and heard, and conclude he did but see a vision, 
so marvellously was heaven let down upon earth, 
so triumphantly were chased away the fiends of 
darkness to their prison below." — Christ upon the 
Waters. 

Our third example of the method of amplifying 
by circumstances is taken from a sermon by the 
late Archdeacon O'Keeffe, and is a magnificent 
specimen of sacred oratory : 

" But lamentable as are the consequences in this 
life, the full extent of the injury cannot be ascer- 
tained until the light of futurity begins to dawn. 
Ascend in spirit to the many mansions, where 
myriads of celestial beings sit enthroned before the 
great and living God. Crowned with surpassing 
glory, and bathed in eternal bliss, they are filled 
with the plenty of their Father's house ; they drink 
of the torrent of delight which springs fast by the 
throne of the Eternal ; and rapt in the contem- 
plation of boundless excellence, they enjoy all 
the felicity of w r hich our nature is susceptible. Of 
this destined happiness the giver of evil example 
deprives his victim. But the evil is not confined 
to the mere deprivation of happiness ; he further 
brings down on his miserable victim a horrible 
damnation. Think on that dark prison whose 
smoke ascends for ever and ever : where human 
guilt is paying to rigorous justice its eternal debt, 
where misery appears in every shape that can 

\6 



242 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

appal the firmest, where the unsparing hand of 
Justice is lifted up for ever. Approach and speak 
to the victim*: of evil example. No mortal voice 
could preach like those hollow tones of deep de- 
spair that load the accursed atmosphere of hell ! 
Ask that young man what direful causes concurred 
to plunge him in that dread abyss. He will tell 
you of the companions of his youth, who drew 
him into guilt, and gave his young mind that fatal 
bias which led to his deep damnation. He will 
tell you that they met him in the morning of his 
days, when life was young, and hope unbroken, 
and the chalice of guilty pleasure untasted ; when 
youthful confidence saw in every face a friend, and 
youthful spirits tinged with the richest colourings 
of fancy the boundless prospect that stretched be- 
fore him, They met him whilst his body was yet 
a living sacrifice offered to his God, at morning and 
evening time, his heart a throne of living light, 
where Jesus, the Hidden God of the Eucharist, 
loved to dwell, and his spirit a cloudless heaven 
chequered by no dark shade of vice or crime. Tr 
met him in an evil hour, and led him to those scenes 
where crowd in full assemblage all the seductions 
of vice, and all the blandishments that can soften 
and seduce ; where the wicked combine and the 
profligate associate ; where bloated intemperance 
and sickly dissipation riot in what is called ' the 
festive chair,' pouring out from wanton and pro- 
fane lips offences against decency and blasphemy 
against God ; where rude and boisterous merri- 
ment, born in sin, and bred in foil) and ignoran: . 



ARGUMENTATION. 243 

ridicule the discipline of virtue and the sanctity of 
religion. There did he learn by degrees to join in 
the senseless cry raised against all that should be 
dear to man in time and eternity. His course, I 
recollect, was a short one ; he brought down ruin 
on his circumstances, infamy on his character, 
decay on his constitution, anger, and sorrow, and 
shame on the gray hairs of a father, destruction, 
and, I may add, final perdition on himself. He was 
hurried away while he slept in imagined security. 
Before the thought of eternity seriously took pos- 
session of his mind he found himself sinking 
through its darkest depths, and ere he had time to 
call on the name of the living God he was standing 
in horror before his awful tribunal. There is no 
bosom so locked up against the entrance of humanity 
as not to feel for thy sorrows, child of high and dis- 
appointed hopes ! No heart so hardened as not to 
mourn with me over the stranded wreck of thy 
virtues and thy happiness, that lies so dark, so 
shattered, and so lonely on the shores of thy eternal 
exile. If tears could ease thy torture, all who 
knew thy once kind and compassionate spirit 
would shed them for thee ; if prayer and sacrifice 
could avail, the Church that mourns thee lost would 
make her altars blaze before her God with the 
burnt offerings of Calvary; or, if life could pur- 
chase thy redemption, thy agonies would termi- 
nate speedily. But thou art lost— lost to thyself, to 
thy friends, to thy God, and lost for ever ! Stretched 
on thy burning bed, thou art a beacon of fire to 
warn others from the rocks, where all thy hone< 



244 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

are shipwrecked,' to make them fly the associates 
whose converse is corruption, whose company is 
dishonour, whose example is death and final per- 
dition/' — On Scandal. 



Section VII. 

Refutation. 

Before leaving this branch of our subject we 
must briefly glance at another matter which is es- 
sentially connected with it, and which is techni- 
cally known as Refutation. Frequently it is not 
sufficient to prove our point solidly and well. 
We must, especially when there is question of 
morality, pursue the sinner further still, in order 
to overthrow those objections and vain pretexts 
behind which he strives to shelter himself, and 
which he interposes between himself and the dis- 
charge of his duty. 

The most effective way of doing this is for the 
preacher to enter, as it were, into a dialogue with 
the sinner, and, addressing him without bitterness, 
or anything which can give offence, to take up his 
objections and show their unreasonableness and 
worthlessness. This manner of refuting, when it 
is ..uiiducted with tact and discernment, is not only 
full ot interest and attraction to an audience, but is 
excremely useful. 

Refutation is generally introduced at the close of 
the positive arguments, but it may be advanced 
earlier, when we deem it necessary thus to sweep 



REFUTATION. 245 

away prejudices which threaten to interfere with 
the successful conduct of the body of the discourse. 
It may also be interlaced amongst the various 
proofs as they occur, if such a proceeding be 
deemed more judicious, and this of course can only 
be decided by the good sense and prudence of the 
preacher. 

The principal thing to be observed in this matter 
is, to be very discreet in the selection of the objec- 
tions which we attack, and to attack none which 
we are not able to refute victoriously and un- 
answerably. These remarks apply, a fortiori, to 
the refutation of dogmatical objections when the 
preacher may deem it his duty to bring them be- 
fore his flock, or when the necessity of answer- 
ing them may be thrust upon him from quarters 
which the interests of religion forbid him to pass 
by in silence. Unless in these exceptional cases, 
the less he disturbs the simple faith and the un- 
doubting belief of his flock by bringing before them 
objections of which, perhaps, they then hear for 
the first time, the better. If we advance objections 
without victoriously refuting them, we afford the 
sinner or unbeliever additional pretexts for re- 
maining in his sin or unbelief. 

Having once discreetly selected the objection 
which we intend to refute, it is well, as we have 
said, to put it into the mouth of our adversary, 
advancing it frankly and fairly, expressing it pre- 
cisely as we believe it to be in the sinner's mind, 
so that, listening to our exposition of it, he may 
say to himself : " That is exactly my objection ; 



?^6 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

that is precisely my difficulty, and I should wish 
very much to hear how the preacher will clear 
it up." 

Having fairly stated the objection, there are, of 
course, various methods of refuting it. We will 
glance briefly at the leading ones, and give some 
illustrations from Massillon, who excels in this 
matter. Many of these illustrations also afford 
excellent examples of the method of amplifying by 
comparison, &c. &c, 

I. We may refute an objection by showing the false* 
ness of the principle on which it rests. Massillon 
thus refutes the false principles that youth is the 
season for pleasure, that the practice of virtue be- 
longs to old age : 

" Who has assured you that death will not 
surprise you in the midst of those years which you 
intend to devote to the world and your passions ? 
Upon what foundation, I ask you, do you promise 
yourself that age shall change your heart and in- 
cline you to embrace a new life? Did age change 
the heart of Solomon ? No ; it was then that his 
passions became most violent, that his miserable 
frailty became most scandalous. Did age prepare 
Saul for his conversion r No ; it was then that to 
his other errors he added superstition, impiety, 
hardness of heart, and despair. It may be that 
is you advance in years you shall leave off certain 
loose manners, because the disgust which follows 
them shall have withdrawn you from them, but you 
will not on that account be converted. You may 
no longer live in debauchery, but you will not, 



REFUTATION. 24 / 

therefore, repent. Your heart will not be changed, 
you will do no penance. You will still be worldly, 
ambitious, voluptuous, and sensual. And, what is 
worst of all, you will live tranquil in this fearful 
state. When you are no longer able to give your- 
self up to these vices you will have all the disposi- 
tions to do so. Years, bad examples, long habit of 
the world, shall have served merely to harden your 
conscience, to put indolence and worldly wisdom 
in the place of the passions, to obliterate that sense 
of religion which renders the soul fearful and 
timorous in the days of youth. You will die as 
you have lived. You will die impenitent. . . . 
But, even supposing that this great misfortune 
should not fall upon you, tell me, is not the Lord 
the God of all times and of all ages ? There is not 
one of our days which does not belong to Him, 
which we are free to consecrate to the world and to 
vanity. Is He not justly jealous of the first-fruits 
of our heart and of our life, which He has figured 
by those first-fruits of the earth which He has com- 
manded to be offered to Him ? Why, then, do you 
seek to rob Him of the fairest portions of your 
years, that you may consecrate them to Satan and 
his works r Is your life too long to be wholly de- 
voted to the glory of the Lord who has bestowed it 
upon you, and who has promised you an eternal 
one ? Is your youth so precious that it may not be 
consecrated to the Supreme Being, and rendered 
worthy of its eternal inheritance ? Are you to re- 
serve for Him only the remains of your life and the 
dregs of your passions ? If you act thus, it will bu 



248 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

as if you said to Him : Lord, so long as I shall be fit 
for the world and its passions think not that I shall 
turn towards Thee, or that I shall seek Thee. So 
long as the world shall be pleased with me I will 
devote myself to it. When it begins to neglect and 
forsake me, then I will turn towards Thee, then I 
will say to Thee : * Lo, I am here ! I pray Thee 
accept that heart which the world hath rejected, 
that heart which iinds itself under the necessity 
of reluctantly bestowir.g itself upon Thee, that 
heart from which even now Thou mayest ex- 
pect nothing but perfect indifference, and utter ne- 
glect.' Ah ! unworthy soul, who thus treatest 
God with such mockery and insult, dost thou be- 
lieve that in thy necessity He will deign to accept 
the homage that is thus forced upon Him, the 
homage that is as disgraceful to his glory as it is 
hateful in his sight !" 

After this powerful refutation of these false prin- 
ciples Massillon confirms what he has said, and 
renders it still more sensible, by the following 
beautiful comparison : 

" In ancient days the prophet Tsaiah thus mocked 
those who worshipped vain idols : You take, said 
he to them, a cedar from Lebanon ; you devote the 
best and most handsome portions of it to your 
necessities, your pleasures, your luxury, and the 
embellishment of your palaces ; and when you have 
no other use for the remnant, you carve it into a 
vain idol and offer up to it ridiculous vows and 
homages.* And I, in my turn, may say to you, 

* Isai. xliv. 19. 



REFUTATION. 249 

you consecrate the fairest and most flourishing 
years of your life to the gratification of your fancies 
and your iniquitous passions ; and when you know- 
not what to do with the remainder, when it be- 
comes useless to the world and to your pleasures, 
then you make an idol of it. You make it serve 
you for religion. You form to yourself of it a 
false, a superficial, an inanimate virtue, and to this 
miserable idol you reluctantly consecrate the 
wretched remains of your passions and of your de- 
baucheries : Et de reliquo ejus,idolum faciam. Be- 
hold, brethren, what I in my turn may say to 
you."* 

2. Sometimes the sinner advances his objection 
under the form of a principle, which has a twofold 
meaning, one true and one false. We refute it by 
exposing this false meaning. Massillon thus ex- 
poses the sophism that sin is expiated by the mere 
performance of works of mercy : 

" Works of mercy aid us to expiate those crimes 
of which we repent, but they do not excuse or justify 
those sins which we continue to love. Charity is 
the handmaid of penance, but she is not the apolo- 
gist of luxury. What is most deplorable in this 
matter is, that when the movements of grace begin 
to fill our conscience with terror, we clothe the 
naked and feed the hungry with whom we happen 
to meet, and thus calm and bring false peace to 
these salutary stings. These are the signs of 
peace with which we soothe our alarms. This is 

• Sermon on the Delav of Conversion 



250 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

the false and deceptive rainbow of which the Pro- 
phet speaks, a reus dolosus, which, in the midst of 
those clouds and those salutary tempests which 
God had begun to excite in our hearts, diverts our 
mind from the image of danger. We are lulled to 
sleep upon these sad ruins of religion, as if they 
could preserve us from shipwreck ; and those very 
works of charity, which ought to be the price of 
our salvation, become the occasion of our eternal 
ruin." 

3. We may refute, by denying at once the principle 
and the conclusion on which the sinner rests. Mas- 
sillon proceeds in this manner in refuting the ob- 
jection, that it is necessary to distinguish between 
those who are of the world and those who are not ; 
and that, as we are of the world, we may reasonably 
dispense ourselves from that strict code of morality 
which is sought to be imposed upon us. 

Refutation of the principle. — " And do you mean 
to tell me that there is to be one Gospel for you 
and another for those who dwell in the desert? 
You are of the world ? Ay, and so was the sinful 
woman mentioned in the Gospel, but I never heard 
that she was therefore dispensed from doing pen- 
ance. David was of the world, but I have never 
heard that he made this an excuse for moderating 
the severity of his self-chastisement. I have never 
heard that the first Christians were accustomed to 
distinguish between those who were of the world 
and those who were not. To say that you are a 
Christian is the same as to say that you are not of 
the world. . . . You are of the world, my brethren ? 



REFUTATION. 25* 

Yes, but it is your crime, and you will make it 
your excuse. A Christian belongs no longer to the 
world, he is a citizen of heaven." 

Refutation of the consequence, — "When you affirm 
that you are of the world, what do you pretend to 
say ? That you are dispensed from doing penance ? 
You speak justly if it be true that the world is the 
abode of innocence, the sanctuary of virtue, the 
faithful protector of modesty, of sanctity, and of 
temperance. That prayer is not necessary for 
you ? I agree with you if you can assure me that 
there is less danger in the world than in solitude, 
that there are fewer snares to be feared, that seduc- 
tions are less frequent, that relapses are more rare, 
and that less grace is needed in order to rise again. 
That you are not bound to withdraw from the 
amusements of the world? Again, I agree with 
you if it be true that its amusements are holy, and 
its companies innocent, if all that you hear and see 
in it elevate your heart to God, nourish your faith, 
cultivate your piety, and draw down the divine 
grace upon you. That you are not bound to take 
such pains in order to save your souls ? You say 
what is true, and yet once more will I agree with 
you, if you will show me that you have no passions 
to overcome, no obstacles to surmount : that the 
world will assist you to fulfil those sacred obliga- 
tions which the Gospel has imposed upon you. O 
man ! such is your terrible blindness, you reckon 
your very miseries as your highest privileges : you 
persuade yourself that in multiplying your chains 
you are but increasing your liberty ; you are making 



-52 B DY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

your very dangers the rock on which you ar& 
building your false and delusive hopes."* 

4. The most brilliant and most telling mode of re- 
futing is that in which, collecting a number of objec- 
tions into one bundle, so to sfieak, we, without delay 1/10 
upon any of them, snap them in twain one after an- 
other by strong, brief, and cutting answers. These 
brief, but brilliant strokes of a nervous and vigor- 
ous eloquence, are as darts discharged into the 
very heart of our adversary, which, raining down 
upon him from every side, leave him no means of 
evasion, no chance of escape. Massillon is espe- 
cially happy in this method of refutation : — 

1st Example, proving that the virtues of the good 
will leave the wicked without any excuse. 

" What will you answer before the tribunal of 
Jesus Christ r Will you affirm that you have but 
followed established usages \ Did the just who 
are standing in your presence conform themselves 
to these usages ? Will you excuse yourselves on 
the ground of youi illustrious birth ? You have 
known many who, with a more illustrious name 
than yours, have sanctified their state, and have 
discovered in it the happy secret of securing their 
salvation. Perchance, you will allege the vivacity 
of youth, or the delicacy of sex? You ma}' every 
day behold those who regard these things as mere 
dirt, who have no thought but for heaven. Will 
you speak of the dissipating nature of your occu- 
pations ? How many have you seen who, engaged 

• Sermon upon the Samaritan Womai. 



REFUTATION. 253 

in the same occupations, have nevertheless saved 
their souls ? Your taste for pleasure ? The desire 
of pleasure reigns in the hearts of all men, and 
freauently it is strongest in those who serve God 
most faithfully. Your afflictions ? There are many 
who are more miserable. Your prosperity r There 
are many who sanctify themselves in abundance. 
Your health r You may behold many who, fortified 
by divine love and grace, serve God with the 
greatest fidelity, although suffering from the most 
infirm health."* 

•ind Example, proving thai the discourse of the 
worid ought not to turn us away from the service of 
God. 

"What can the world say of you which ought to 
give you such alarm ? That you are changed ? O 
happy inconstancy, which detaches you from a 
world which is always fleeting and inconstant, in 
order to attach you to those unchangeable goods 
which no man can take from you. That you are 
foolish to renounce pleasure at your age ? O holy 
folly, wiser than all the wisdom of the world, since 
in renouncing its pleasures you renounce nothing, 
and in finding God you find everything. That you 
know not what you are doing r Thrice useful re- 
proaches, which thus become pregnant with in- 
struction, and serve to animate your vigilance. 
That you only leave the world because it has first 
left you ? Precious injustice, which thus hinders 
you from receiving a vain recompense here. That 

* Sermon upon the Judgment of the Good and the Wicked, 



254 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

you affect a singularity of life which will cover you 
with the ridicule of the world ? O consoling cen- 
sure, which declares that you are following in the 
footsteps of the saints, who were ever covered with 
the vain ridicule of the world. In fine, that since 
your change you are no longer good for anything ? 
My God, and are we useless upon the face of the 
earth because we serve you, love you, and discharge 
our duties ; because we edify, assist, console, and 
pray for our brethren/'* 

Such are some of the principal methods of re- 
futing the vain pretexts and the futile objections of 
the sinner. It only remains after this overthrow 
of his forces — this destruction of the ramparts be- 
hind which he seeks to hide himself from God and 
his duty, to raise him up again, to show him what he- 
is bound to do in order to save his soul, and to en- 
courage him to undertake this duty like a fervent 
and determined Christian. 



Section VIII. 

Special application of the Subject to all classes of our 
Hearers; or, Amplification of Arguments drawn 
from Practical Conclusions " in re ?norali" £x- 
tr ernes to be avoided. 

Having sufficiently explained the great Christian 
truth which forms the subject of our discourse; 
having supported it by arguments discreetly chosen, 

P Sermon upon Human Respect? 



REFUTATION. 255 

skilfully arranged, and powerfully amplified; hav- 
ing, when necessary, refuted the objections which 
may be advanced against it, it only remains to 
deduce those practical conclusion, which necessarily 
flow from it, and apply them to the special wants 
and necessities of our hearers, since we only preach 
that they may become better men. 

In order to do this successfully we must know 
our people well ; we must embrace within the scope 
of our sermon, as far as is practicable, the necessi- 
ties of alt those who are listening to us; and we 
must apply ourselves with special earnestness and 
care to combat the dominant passions and the 
leading abuses and disorders which may reign in 
our parish. In order to be able to apply our dis- 
course with practical fruit to the souls of our hearers, 
it is evident that we must first know them well. 
If we happen to be preaching in a strange place, 
we must endeavour to acquire this necessary infor- 
mation from the pastor of it. In our own parish 
we shall, of course, acquire an intimate knowledge 
of our flock, of their virtues as well as of their fail- 
ings, from our intercourse with them, from our 
observation of their lives and habits, and from 
those other sources which experience in the work 
of the ministry will daily open to us. Without 
such a knowledge of our flock it is certain that, 
whatever other qualities it may possess, a sermon 
can never be practical. 

"We must labour to embrace, as far as possible, 
within the scope of our discourse the necessities of 
all our hearers. If a preacher merely apply his, 



256 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

healing remedies to one class of his audience, his 
discourse will necessarily be without either utility 
or interest to the rest, whilst all have an equal 
right to be nourished with the Divine Word. His 
flock are like the sick men watching at the pool of 
Bethsaida. He is the angel sent by God to cure 
them. He is to give light to the blind, and strength 
and vigour to the lame. He is to raise up those 
who have fallen, and he is to make sure the feet of 
those who are yet standing. 

His charity must, therefore, spread itself out to 
the wants of all : to those who sin through weak- 
ness or ignorance; to those who are involved in 
evil habits, but who are not as yet thoroughly 
hardened ; to those who have steeped themselves 
in sin till their eyes are blinded and their ears 
closed to all the lights and inspirations of the 
Almighty; those who, in sad sober truth, are 
living in the very state of damnation, without one 
thought or one desire of freeing themselves from 
their chains. With no less earnestness will his 
charity embrace those who are walking with loving 
care and fidelity in the way of God's command- 
ments, those who may have but just begun, those 
who may have made some progress, those who 
may have already advanced a great distance on 
the path of holy perfection. 

In order to meet these various wants, the preacher 
will, if he be treating of any vice, attack with all the 
power at his command those sins which are the sad 
children of this fruitful mother. He will speak with 
compassion of those who fall through weakness or 



SPECIAL APPLICATION. 257 

the force of temptation. He will raise his voice in 
solemn warning against the perversity of those who 
are hardening their hearts and blinding their eyes 
by their indulgence of evil habits. He will thunder 
God's judgments, cum omni imperio, into the soul of 
the reprobate and hardened sinner, that, if he will 
not allow himself to be converted to God by the 
pleadings of his mercy, he may at least be brought 
to a sense of his duty by the recollection of those 
fearful punishments which He has prepared for 
unrelenting enemies. The preacher will not fail 
either to speak with reprobation of those lighter 
failings, those minor sins, by the commission of 
which man is led on, little by little, to put himself 
in open enmity with God. In fine, he will prescribe 
the practical means of avoiding or of correcting 
this vice, indicating successively those which are 
of necessity and those which are only of counsel 
and of perfection. 

If, on the contrary, he be treating of some par- 
ticular virtue, he will endeavour to inspire his 
hearers with a great horror of the sins which are 
contrary to it, and he will propose the ordinary as \ 
well as the highest degrees in which it may be 
practised. In this way he will minister to the 
wants of all. All classes of sinners, as well as of 
the just, will receive that instruction which is most 
suited to them, and there will be no one present 
who may not derive some profit from this dis- 
course. 

With a view to the profit of all those who may 
compose his audience, no matter what their state 

17 



258 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

of life may be, he will not fail frequently to impress 
upon them the general principle that, of all duties 
those which pertain to our own peculiar state are 
the most essential, and that the ordinary means 
of perfection and sanctification are placed in the 
faithful and perfect discharge of those duties. He 
will render this still more practical by examples, 
by dwelling upon the obligations of the rich and 
the poor, of masters and of servants, of parents and 
of children, &c. &c. : taking care, however, not to 
decry any profession which is honourable in itself, 
nor to dwell upon the obligations of any state to 
which correlative duties may be attached, without 
insisting equally upon the faithful discharge of 
those duties. 

As a necessary consequence of labouring to 
adapt his discourse to the special wants of his 
hearers, the preacher will apply himself most as- 
siduously to combat those dominant passions and 
those leading disorders which may reign in his 
parish. These dominant vices are the grand ob- 
stacles to salvation. These are the evils which cry 
aloud most urgently for remedy, and which, unless 
they be removed, will be the most frightful source 
of death to many souls. 

Whilst, however, the fervent pastor will inveigh 
with all the powers of his soul, in season and out 
of season, in omm patwntia et doctrina, against 
these dominant vices, he will be careful never to 
assume a tone of bitter acerbity and angry re- 
proach. True zeal knows no such language as 
this. It is sweet and without gall, tender an<4 



SPECIAL APPLICATION. 259 

compassionate towards the sinner who has fallen. 
No man is ever gained to God by angry reproach, 
that is, by a reproach clothed in angry words. At 
the best, a reproach is always a bitter medicine. 
It is sometimes necessary to administer it to the 
sinner, but let the preacher ever temper its bitter- 
ness by the considerate and gentle language in 
which he will clothe it. Let him, to use a common 
simile, gild the pill, mindful of the characteristic 
which Holy Writ applies to true zeal against sin, 
Irascimini el nolite peccare.* 

He will also be careful not to represent any dis- 
orders whLh may prevail in his parish as really 
worse than they are. Exaggeration is always mis- 
chievous and always to be avoided. It is doubly 
mischievous when employed in the pulpit. He 
will use an extreme caution and reserve when 
speaking of certain vices, so as to say nothing 
which may in the least sully the most sensitive or 
the most delicate conscience. Whilst he denounces 
the vices of his people, he will not fail at the same 
time to indicate the remedies for these disorders. 

Remedies, it is scarcely necessary to remark, are 
of two kinds, general and particular. By general 
remedies we understand prayer, meditation, the 
holy use of the sacraments, spiritual reading, fast- 
ing, mortification, and alms-deeds. Particular re- 
medies vary according to the faults and disposi- 
tions of the sinner, and they oug-ht to be pointed 
out by the preacher with such exact precision that 
fill may see quite clearly what they ought to do. 
* Ps, iv. 5, 



260 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

As he has shown them in detail what they are, 
so the preacher ought to show them in detail what 
they ought to be, the practices and the means by 
which they may correct themselves, the obliga- 
tions which they have to fulfil, and tne new life on 
which they are bound to enter. The experience 
and the watchful care of the zealous pastor will 
furnish him with more practical and efficacious 
means of accomplishing these great, useful, and 
holy ends, than any we could hope to suggest or 
prescribe. Let him only be in earnest, let him 
only be inflamed with a great zeal for the glory of 
God and for the salvation of the precious souls 
whom his Master has entrusted to his care to be 
prepared for heaven, and the means — sweet, plenti- 
ful, and efficacious — of accomplishing his purpose 
will never be wanting to him. Let him not fail, 
too, to impress upon his people that the only way 
of avoiding sin is oy sedulously avoiding its occa- 
sions, that the sole means of persevering in good 
resolutions is through the grace of God, which is 
alone showered down in plentiful profusion upon 
the souls of those who ask it in fervent, humble, 
and continual prayer. 



To sum up, then, and briefly recapitulate the 
leading principles which have been thrown out in 
considering this part of our matter. Having se- 
lected his subject in view of the special disposi- 
tions, capacity, and necessities of his audience ; 
having collected his materials, and arranged them 



SPECIAL APPLICATION. 26 1 

In such a way as to secure the essential quality of 
unity for his discourse ; having* in his exordium, 
introduced that subject in a becoming manner, 
and, by means of his division, marked out its lead- 
ing members or parts, the preacher proceeds to es- 
tablish the great truth which he has laid down as 
the basis of his sermon. In the first place, he im- 
parts to his audience that amount of clear, solid, 
and practical instruction on the matter in hand 
which his experience points out to him as neces- 
sary or useful for them. He then proceeds to confirm 
his propositions by solid proofs. He may prove 
each point of his discourse from Holy Scripture, 
the Holy Fathers, the motives of Faith, and from 
reason. He may amplify each source of proof in 
the manner described, and, more especially, by the 
use of comparisons, examples, &c., drawn either 
from Sacred or Profane History, or the ordinary 
circumstances of life. "When necessary or useful, 
he will refute the objections which may be ad- 
vanced against either his proposition or his proofs ; 
and, finally, since the whole aim and object of his 
preaching is to render his hearers better men, he 
will make a practical application of the subject to 
their special necessities and wants. This applica- 
tion may be either reserved until the conclusion of 
the argumentation, or it may be introduced at the 
close of each point of the discourse, or it may even 
be brought forward at any part of the instructive 
or argumentative portions of his sermon where the 
preacher deems it peculiarly appropriate or telling*. 
The plan of introducing it during the progress of his 



2.62 BODY OF THE DISCOURSE. 

discourse, at least at the conclusion of each point, 
is probably better, as an ordinary rule, than that of 
reserving it until the conclusion of the entire argu- 
mentation, since the preacher thus renders his 
sermon more practically interesting and useful. 

By the careful, diligent, and practical application 
of these principles, the preacher can scarcely fail 
to secure a becoming and effective development of 
what we may call the logical element of his dis- 
course : Veritas pafeat. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PATHETIC PART. PERSUASION — APPEAL TO 
THF PASSIONS. PERORATION. 

Section I. 
Persuasion — its Nature and Necessity, 



AVING studied — if not thoroughly, at least 
sufficiently— the manner of introducing 
our subject, the method of instructing, and 
the rules according to which our argumentation is 
to be conducted, strengthened, and adorned, it now 
remains to turn our attention to the Peroration, or 
conclusion of a sermon Before doing so, however, 
we must, as briefly as the matter will permit, con- 
sider and lay down some general principles on 
what is, beyond all doubt, the most important 
portion of our subject, and that which will have 
the greatest and most direct influence upon the 
preacher's success. We mean the pathetic part of 
the discourse, or, what is technically called the art 
of persuasion through an appeal to the passions 
of our hearers. We beg the young preachers 
careful attention whilst we endeavour, as con- 
cisely as possible, to explain the essential and most 
important part which persuasion, or the art of in- 



264 THE PATHETIC PART. 

fluencing the will, holds in every true and success- 
ful sermon. 

Up to this point our explanations have been 
principally directed to show the preacher how he is 
to explain and to prove the Christian doctrine : in 
other words how he is to enlighten the understand- 
ing, bring truth before the intellect, and convince 
his hearers. But, as a sermon is of its nature a 
persuasive oration, and as its ultimate object is not 
to discuss some abstract point or some metaphy- 
sical truth, not to convince our hearers that they 
are bound to become better men, but to persuade 
them to do so, it is clear that our work is only 
partly done when we have treated of instruction, 
and argumentation. 

It is one thing to convince a man that he ought 
to change his life ; it is another to persuade him to 
make this change. This latter, this persuasion, is 
the ultimate aim of all preaching, the end which 
the preacher necessarily proposes to himself. All 
his instruction, all his argumentation, all his pre- 
vious efforts, are simply intended to lay the 
foundation on which to build persuasion. It is 
well, it is necessary, to triumph over the intellect 
by conviction, but what result has the Christian 
preacher really attained if he have not also moved 
the will, gained the heart — in one word, persuaded 
his hearers. 

There are few men who do not believe in the 
existence of hell, and yet how many are there who 
live as if they did not believe this truth. And what 
is the reason of this ? Is it from want of instruc- 



£ERSUASiO^. . $6$ 

tion, or from defect of solid proof? Most certainly 
not. But* it is because, although the intellect is 
convinced, the heart is not moved. It is because 
there are many preachers who know how to prove 
the Christian doctrine and to convince the intellect, 
but comparatively few who know how to move the 
heart and persuade men to practise what is 
preached. There are many who are able to point 
out to the sinner the road which he ought to take, 
few who are able efficaciously to persuade him to 
enter on it. 

Many preachers take great pains to instruct and 
to prove — in other words, to speak to the intellect 
of their hearers ; but, unfortunately, it is not the 
intellect which is sick, but the heart, which is the 
victim of evil passions ; and the heart is not to be 
reached by cold and logical reasoning. It must be 
touched, it must be moved, it must be persuaded to 
embrace and put in practice that truth which the 
intellect has presented to it. Through the influ- 
ence, and by the aid of those passions by which it 
is so deeply moved and governed it must be gained 
to the side of virtue. The sinner must be brought 
not only to believe, but to practise. 

To attain this great end is the aim and object of 
persuasion, or the art of moving the will, and per- 
suasion is the only way of attaining it. There is 
naturally in the human heart but little taste for 
virtue, and we only efficaciously move our hearers 
to embrace it when we speak to them in those warm 
and earnest tones which alone can act upon and in- 
fluence the will. Hence it is that St. Francis of 



266 The pathetic part. 

Sales declares that we have done but little in 
bringing conviction to the intellect unless we also 
move the will ; that we have gained but a very 
poor result if our audience depart from our sermon, 
convinced, indeed, that they ought to be virtuous, 
but without any intention of becoming so. A dis- 
course which leaves our hearers cold and insen- 
sible, which does not move the most hidden depths 
of their souls, and inspire them with strong, fervid, 
and efficacious resolutions, may sparkle with gems 
of rhetoric, and be redolent of the beauties of com- 
position ; but, most assuredly, it will be neither a 
good nor a useful sermon, since it wants the essen- 
tial condition laid down by St. Augustine, Flecten- 
dus auditor, ut moveatur ad agendum. Idco victoriai 
est fleeter e, quia fieri potest, tot doceatur et delecte- 
tur, et 11011 assent iatur. Quid autem ilia duo pro- 
denint, si desit hoc tertium ?* And we have the 
testimony of St. Bernard to the same effect. Audio 
libenter, qui 11011 sibi plausum, sed mihi plaucium 
move 'at t 

On the other hand, if a preacher succeed in 
moving his hearers, if he succeed in acting upon 
their hearts, all is gained. He is certain to please, 
since he who moves always pleases, and the more 
he succeeds in moving the more will he please. 
His arguments will produce their full effect ; for the 
intellect will no longer seek to withhold its assent 
from the truth when the heart has been already 
gained, and thus the victory is assured. 

* D§ Doct. Christ, lib. iv., cap. 12 f Sena. :':;. in CanU 



Persuasion. 267 

The strength, then, of the Christian orator lies 
much more in the power of moving than in rea- 
soning. Since evil passions have their stronghold 
in the heart, it is by gaining their hearts that he 
influences and turns men to his purpose, rather 
than by convincing their intellect, although this, 
too, is necessary. Hence the great and wonderful 
effects produced by some sermons, which, although 
in no wise remarkable for composition, are de- 
livered with that unction, that real earnestness, 
that burning zeal, which, springing from a heart 
that is all on fire with a desire for God's glory and 
the honour of his holy name, acts with such irre- 
sistible force on the souls of men. 

Feeling is the soul of eloquence, and it is pathos, 
the expression of that feeling, which is the moving 
power of the sinner's conversion, of those restitu- 
tions, those reconciliations, and those other tri- 
umphs over the unregenerate heart of man which 
we are allowed to win, by God's permission and 
for the glory of his holy name, through the ministry 
of the pulpit. It is through this pathos of thought, 
of word, and of expression, that we gain our noblest 
victories over the hearts of our hearers, and lead 
them whither we will. It is in this that the main 
secret of our success is placed. The discourse 
which does not apply itself to the heart, which 
does not move and gain it, is necessarily void of 
the greatest and most noble results which should 
attend every sermon. 

Moreover, although Christianity is a religion of 
reason; it is still more a religion of love and of 



268 • THE PATHETIC PARf. 

sentiment; and hence that unction which springs 
from the heart of him who speaks, and which goes 
straight to the heart of him who is addressed, 
ought surely to be the essential characteristic, the 
very soul of Christian eloquence. How can the 
Christian preacher proclaim the great truths of 
which he is the guardian, ad saivandos homines, 
coldly and without feeling? When he does so he 
forgets what is due to God, whose cause he pleads and 
whose glory he defends ; what is due to his brethren 
whose dearest interests, for time and eternity, are 
at stake; what is due to himself, because the truths 
which he preaches regard himself equally with his 
hearers, since, if they be lost through any fault of 
his, he must render an account to God for their im- 
mortal souls. What greater contradiction can be 
conceived, what sight more strange and unaccount- 
able than that of a Christian preacher who can 
speak of the most tremendous judgments of God 
without one tone of feeling in his voice, without 
one sign of emotion on his countenance, as calmly 
and as coldly as if he did not believe them, as if he 
were merely treating some abstract metaphysical 
truth, instead of one which is practical beyond 
conception, one whose certainty is above all argu- 
ment, one which is more nearly and more inti- 
mately connected with his own eternal interests and 
those of his hearers than his soul is connected with 
his body. 

If all the masters of profane rhetoric insist ur^on 
the pathetic as the most essential part of a dis- 
course, how much more true must this be where 



PERSUASION. 269 

there is question of Christian preaching, when the 
orator very frequently has to carry his point against 
all the influences of corrupt nature, of an intellect 
blinded by passion, and a heart hardened by sin. 
A man may be a great philosopher without the 
faculty of persuading and of influencing the will. 
He may be an accomplished lecturer, although he 
may not know how to strike one chord of the 
human heart, or touch one string of the human 
soul. But, if.it be true that persuasion is the ulti- 
mate end of all our preaching, if it be true that a 
sermon is essentially a persuasive oration, then it 
follows that, unless he possess this great faculty, 
whatever else a man may be, he will never be a 
preacher. To move is the special gift of the apostle 
and the man of God : Veritas move.it 



Section II. 

Appeal to the Passions, 

If, then, persuasion be the end of every sermon, 
and if the pathetic, or the faculty of moving, hold 
such a leading position in its composition, it be- 
comes both interesting and useful to investigate 
how this end is to be obtained, and how those 
movements which produce it are to be directed. 
Let us recur to our definition. Persuasion, as we 
have defined it, is the art of influencing the will by 
appealing to the passions. Always supposing a 
due foundation of clear instruction and so-id proof, 
persuasion, therefore, is the fruit of a successful 



270 THE PATHETIC PART. 

appeal to, and moving of, the passions of the 
human heart 

The passions are those affections or movements 
of the soul which are awakened at the sight of 
some object real or imaginary, and by which the 
will is drawn to embrace that which is, or which it 
believes to be a good, and to fly from that which it 
deems to be an evil The passions were implanted 
in the soul to aid man in the attainment of that 
good, which is consonant to his nature, and the 
avoiding of that evil which is prejudicial to him. 
It is unnecessary to prove that the passions in 
themselves are good, since they were given to man 
by his Creator. It is only in their abuse and per- 
version that they become evil. Neither is it neces- 
sary to devote time or space to the refutation of 
the absurd difficulty which is sometimes raised, 
viz., that appeals to the passions are an unfair 
mode of influencing our hearers, since it is at once 
evident that there can be no persuasion without 
such an appeal. 

Truth is the object of the intellect, good that of the 
will. Man never places an act except for the attain- 
ment of something which really is. or, which he, 
hie et nunc, rightly or wrongly, conceives to be a 
good ; something which will conduce to his happi- 
ness, true or false ; to the perfection of his nature, 
and the development of his being. To make me 
believe, it is enough to show me the truth. To 
make me act, you must show me that the action will 
answer some end. 

Jsow, nothing can be an end to me which does 



PERSUASION". 271 

not gratify some passion or affection in my nature ; 
and, therefore, in order to induce me to attain that 
end. you must necessarily appeal to the passion or 
affection which is to be gratified by its attainment. 
You tell me that such a thing is for my honour, and 
thus you appeal to my pride ; or, that it is for my 
interest, thus appealing to my self-love, and so of 
the rest.* 

Hence, so far from an appeal to the passions 
being an unfair method of persuasion, it is evident 
that there is no persuasion without it. 

Since, then, the heart of man is only efficaciously 
moved by appealing to those passions by which it is 
governed, it follows that the preacher who disdains 
to call them to his aid neglects one of his most 
powerful means of success. If man had not revolted 
against his Creator there worn a be no need to 
appeal to his passions, since they would, instinc- 
tively and of their own accord, tend to that real good 
which is their natural object ; but, inasmuch as man 
has perverted the passions which are good in them- 
selves, and as these passions are the source of ail sin 
and of ail rebellion against God, it follows that he, 
omnibus pensatis, is thebest preacher who best knows 
how, not only directly to mfluence and act upon 
those pure and well-ordered affections or passions 
which may exist in the hearts of his hearers, but 
also to oppose to the evil passions which lead man 
from his end those contrary impulses and affections 
by which alone he can be led back again into the 

* Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, 



272 THE PATHETIC PART. 

path of religion and duty. Affectus pravi, says 
Louis of Grenada, velitt clavus clavo, contrariis affec- 
tibus pel lend i sunt. 

Persuasion has this advantage over simple con- 
viction, writes Fenelon. that it not only enables us 
to see the truth, but paints that truth in pleasing 
colours, and moves men efficaciously in its favour. 
Thus, true eloquence Consists in employing not only 
solid argument, but the means of interesting our 
hearer, and of awaking the strongest passions of 
his soul in our favour. It inspires him with indig- 
nation against ingratitude, with horror against cru- 
elty. It fills him with compassion for misery, and 
awakens in his heart a true love for virtue, and so 
of the other affections. Hence, according to the 
judgment of St. Francis of Sales, St. Alphonsus 
Liguori, Louis of Grenada, and many other eminent 
writers, a preacher is eloquent in proportion as he' 
is able to move the passions, and thus influence the 
wills of his hearers, in proportion as he knows how 
to oppose one passion to another; to eradicate the 
disorderly affections which reign in the heart by ex- 
citing acts of the contrary virtue. 

The perfection of art. according to Bellefroid, con- 
sists in leading man back to virtue through the 
agency of that very passion by the abuse of which 
he has been seduced and led astray. For example, 
you know that it is shame which so often closes the 
mouth of the sinner in the sacred tribunal. You 
oppose shame to shame. You place before his 
eyes the last judgment with all its terrors, and you 
show him how awful and how irreparable is the 



PERSUASION. 273 

ignominy which awaits him at that dread hour, 
unless he overcome the false shame which now 
renders him unfaithful to his duty. Again, you 
awaken in the hearts of those who are kept from 
their duty through fear of men, a much greater and 
more legitimate fear, viz., that of being disowned 
by Jesus Christ before the throne of his Father, 
even as they, through human respect, have disowned 
Him before men. 

Having thus established the general necessity of 
the appeal to the passions in order to persuade, it 
may not be out of place to inquire somewhat more 
precisely into the nature of this appeal, and the 
manner in which it is to be conducted. 

And, firstly, we may remark that the appeal to the 
passions is sometimes direct^ but that, more fre- 
quently, it is indirect. 

It is said to be direct when the preacher, by the 
mere force of his own vehement passion, that pas- 
sion which finds expression in his burning words, 
in his flashing eye, in his quivering voice, in his ear- 
nest gesture, acts, immediately and directly upon the 
hearts of his hearers, and inspires them with those 
same sentiments and feelings with which he himself 
is so deeply penetrated, and which he expresses 
with such power and strength. Thus a preacher 
who, thoroughly moved and excited himself, should, 
at the conclusion of a discourse on mortal sin, give 
utterance to a warm and ardent act of contrition, 
would act directly upon his hearers, and infallibly 
excite the same sentiments of sorrow in their 
souls, 

18 



274 THE PATHETIC PART. 

This direct action of the preacher upon the soul 
of his hearer is- the same whether it be the result 
of those stronger passions which are technically 
known as the vehement pathetic, or of those more 
gentle and tender emotions which the ancients 
named effectus mites, ienes, composite and which we 
are wont to designate unction. As it has its source 
in that deep and burning feeling or passion of the 
preacher which merely struggles to find same in- 
adequate expression in his broken words, it is 
plain that it is governed by no merely technical 
rules or restraints. That same feeling which in- 
spires it will regulate its utterances. 

Although, most probably, we have all felt at one 
time or another this direct action of some holy 
zealous preacher upon our souls, it is hard to 
describe it, or to say in what it consists. It is the 
mysterious and sympathetic action of one heart, 
truly and deeply moved, upon the heart of another 
which is thus influenced and governed by it. It is 
the fruit of true and genuine feeling alone, and that 
same feeling which inspires it will ever restrain it 
within due bounds, prevent it from running to ex- 
cess, or assuming any proportion that is extrava- 
gant or misplaced. 

No man has such a keen perception of what is 
becoming as the man of exquisite sensibility and of 
deep feeling ; and hence, while we venture to assert 
that this power of acting upon the souls of our 
fellow-men, and of inspiring them with these ardent 
sentiments and emotions with which we ourselves 
are animated, is one of the most precious gifts 



PERSUASION. 275 

which a preacher can possess, we can lay down no 
technical rules by which we may attain it. 

We can only exhort and persuade him to foster and 
cultivate that sensibility of soul which instinctively 
appreciates whatever is true, beautiful, and sublime; 
to remember that he has been made only a little 
lower than the angels, and that the more pure and 
the more detached he becomes from the things of 
the world, the more closely he will approach in his 
resemblance to these pure spirits ; to be, above all 
things, a man of prayer, a man of such intimate 
union with God as to be able, in the midst of all his 
distracting occupations, to look continually upon 
his Master's face ; a man who, having been called 
by God to be an apostle, will never lose sight 
either of his glorious prerogatives or his terrible 
responsibilities, but with that zeal for God's glory 
with which the true apostle is eaten up, and that 
charity for his brethren with which, like St. Paul, 
he will even ask to become anathema for them, w T ill 
ever labour to be about his Father's business, will 
ever burn with that desire of doing the business 
more truly, more earnestly, and more efficaciously. 

Let the student foster to the utmost tiiose precious 
qualities, whether of nature or of grace, which he 
may have received, sensibility of soul, depth of 
feeling, great love of God, and zeal for the glory of 
his holy name. Let him strive to acquire, in ever 
growing fulness, those qualities of mind and 
heart which mark the perfect gentleman ; ever re- 
membering that the perfect Christian priest, the 
man well-disciplined and self-possessed, the man 0/ 



2;6 THE PATHETIC PART. 

meekness of heart and of purity of life, the man 
forgetful of self but keenly considerate of others, is 
the most perfect gentleman in the world, in the 
true sense of the word. In proportion as he fosters, 
cultivates, and develops these precious qualities 
will he acquire the power of acting upon, and of 
moving, the hearts of his fellow-men : and these are 
the only means which we can suggest to him for the 
acquiring of this sublime and precious faculty. 

More commonly, as may easily be conceived, the 
appeal to the passions is indirect. There are com- 
paratively few men who possess the precious faculty 
of acting, directly and immediately, without pre- 
amble or preparation, solely through the force and 
intensity of their own strong feeling, upon the 
hearts of their fellow-men. The appeal to the 
passion is said to be indirect when the speaker, in- 
stead of proposing to himself to move his audience 
by the mere force and strength of his own feeling 
on the subject, brings before their minds, without 
any direct display of his personal sentiments, in 
vigorous, earnest, and nervous language, those 
scenes, circumstances, or occurrences, which he 
deems fitting and calculated to awaken in the 
hearts of his hearers the passions which he seeks to 
excite. We say that such an appeal as this is indi- 
rect, because the primary object of the speaker is to 
paint in words the scenes or circumstances from 
the consideration of which those feelings which he 
desires to excite, naturally but indirect ly^ arise. 

In this place, and before proceeding with the 
further consideration of this subiect, itmavbe useful 



PERSUASION. 27 7 

to call the student's attention to a matter which has 
an essential connection with this indirect appeal to 
the passions, and which Dr. Whately treats very 
fully and develops very ingeniously. 

" A curious fact," he says, " is forced upon the atten- 
tion of every one who has seriously reflected upon 
the operations of his own mind, viz., that our feel- 
ings and sentiments are not under the immediate 
influence of the will, as is the case with intellectual 
faculties. A man may, by a direct act of his will 
set himself to calculate, to reason, &c, just as he 
does to move any of his limbs ; but, on the other 
hand, a direct volition to hope, to fear, to love or 
hate, to feel devotion, is often quite useless and in- 
effectual. "* Blair well remarks that this matter is 
not sufficiently attended to by preachers, who, if 
they have a point in their sermon to show how 
much we are bound to be grateful to God or to be 
compassionate to the poor, are apt to imagine this 
to be a pathetic part ; confounding the propriety of 
being moved, with the fact of a person being or not 
being actually under the influence of the passion. In 
other words, many men mistake for a feeling of 
gratitude, their voluntary reflections on the subject 
and their conviction that the case is one which 
calls for gratitude, &c> The fact that I am bound to 
be deeply grateful to God for all the graces He has 
bestowed upon me, is very different from a real 
feeling of gratitude. f 

If, then, our feelings be not under the direct in- 
fluence of the will, how, asks Whately, is the diffi- 

* "WTiately's Rhetoric. t Ibid. 



273 THE PATHETIC PART. 

cultyto be surmounted, how are they to be reached r 
And, he answers, that good sense suggests the 
remedy. It is in vain to form a will to quicken or 
lower the circulation of the blood, bat we may, by 
a voluntary act, swallow a medicine which will have 
that effect. In like manner, although we cannot, by 
a direct volition, excite or allay any sentiment or 
emotion, we may, by a voluntary act, fill the un- 
derstanding with such thoughts as shall indirectly 
operate upon the feelings or passions. And, pre- 
cisely in the same manner in which we thus in- 
directly excite any passion in ourselves are we to 
proceed when we desire to make the indirect appeal 
to the passions of an audience. 

Hence, the conclusion that, inasmuch as the feel- 
ings, sentiments, &c. are not under the immediate 
control of the will, the appeal to the passions is, as 
an ordinary rule, indirect ; or, in other words, that no 
sentiment or feeling* is excited by thinking about it, 
or attending to it, but by thinking about and attend- 
ing to such objects as are calculated t© awaken it. 

To every emotion or passion nature has adapted 
a set of corresponding objects, and the emotion is 
raised in the mind by bringing this object in strong, 
graphic, and moving terms before it* The founda- 
tion, therefore, of all successful execution in the way 
of the indirect appeal to the pathetic is to paint the 
object of the passion which we wish to raise in the 
most natural and striking manner, and to describe 
it with such circumstances as are likely to awaken 
it in the minds of others, 

* Blair. 



PERSUASION. 279 

It is evident that this result will not be brought 
about by mere argumentation. Arguments, no mat- 
ter how powerful they may be, to prove the fitness 
or reasonableness of our being moved in a certain 
way, merely dispose us, at the very most, for enter- 
ing into such an emotion, but they do not excite it. 
Thepreacher, whilst employing them, speaks only to 
our reason or our conscience ; but he must do more 
than this. He must also speak to our heart ; and, 
therefore, if he would excite within us the sentiment 
of compassion, for example, he must not only prove 
to us that such a sentiment is a noble disposition, 
but he must dwell upon and develop those circum- 
stances which are calculated to awaken it. He 
must set before us in moving terms a lively descrip- 
tion of the distress suffered by him for whom he 
would interest us ; and then, and not till then, our 
hearts begin to be moved, and our compassion be- 
gins to flow. 

All this supposes, of course, a close study and an 
intimate knowledge of the human heart, and of 
those springs by which it is directed and governed. 
It also supposes a facility of description, a command 
of language, and a certain copiousness of detail in 
working out the conceptions of the mind, or, in 
painting those real occurrences which are presented 
to an audience with the object of exciting becoming 
feelings or emor.ions. In the description of any- 
thing which is to act upon the feelings, it is evident 
that the more perfect and complete that description 
is, the more complete will be the success of the ap- 
peal, always supposing that we do not transgress 



2oO THE PATHETIC PART. 

the bounds of nature, and become too artificial or 
laboured. Quintilian explains this by a very ap- 
propriate example. A person may tell you, he ob- 
serves, that a certain city was sacked ; but, although 
that one word implies ail that really occurred, he 
will produce little or no impression on your mind 
in comparison of one who brings before you a 
description of those terrible acts of slaughter and 
bloodshed which always accompany such a scene. 
Or, as he adds very pithily, to tell the ivlwle is by no 
means the same as to tell everything. 

We may, perhaps, render our meaning more clear, 
and our idea of the difference between the direct 
and the indirect appeal to the feelings more sen- 
sible, by an example. 

Let us suppose a preacher to have selected the 
Sacred Passion ©f Christ as the subject of his dis- 
course. If he confined himself to the history of the 
various stages of that tremendous tragedy, bring- 
ing forward in earnest and pathetic language, but 
witnout any direct expression of his own sentiments, 
those circumstances of time, place, person, &c., 
which he deems most fitting to awaken feelings of 
compunction, gratitude, love, &c, in the souls of 
his hearers, his appeal to the passions is so far in- 
direct But if, without any such description, or, at 
its conclusion, he break forth into a strong and 
ardent expression of those sentiments with which he 
himself has become inflamed by the consideration 
of his subject; and if, by the mere force and as the 
mere result of this strong feeling, he succeed in 
awakening w T ithin the hearts of his hearers those 



Persuasion. 281 

same sentiments Dy wnich his own is so deeply 
moved, his appeal in this case is direct. 

Kence, it will not unfrequently happen, tnat the 
direct appeal will follow the indirect, which will 
thus serve as a preparation for it, whilst, at the 
same time, it will render it more efficacious and tell- 
ing. Hence, too, that appeal to the passions which 
combines the direct and the indirect, or, in other 
words, which makes the indirect the foundation 
upon which the direct appeal to the feelings rests 
and is built, will be found, as an ordinary rule, not 
only the easiest and most practicabletothepreachei, 
but the most efficacious and the most telling upon 
his audience. 

We have many examples of the force of the indi- 
rect appeal to the feelings. One of the most striking 
is to be found in the fourth book of Kings, chap, vi., 
which contains an account of the siege of Samaria 
and the terrible famine suffered by the inhabitants. 

" And as the king of Israel was passing by the 
wall, a certain woman cried out to him, saying : 
Save me, my lord, O king. 

" And he said, if the Lord doth not save thee, 
how can I save thee r out of the barn-door, or out of 
the wine- press ? And the king said to her : What 
aileth thee ? And she answered : 

"This woman said to me : Give thy son, that we 
may eat him to-day, and we shall eat my son 
to-morrow. 

"So we boiled my son, and eat him. And I 
said to her on the next day : Give thy son that we 
may eat him. And she hath hid her son. 



2 82 THE PATHETIC PART. 

"When the king heard this, he rent his garments, 
and passed by upon the wall. And all the people 
saw the hair-cloth which he wore next to his 
flesh." 

Xo words could give a more lively idea of the 
state to which the inhabitants of the besieged city 
were reduced, whilst no direct appeal could be so 
successful in exciting those feelings of horror which 
arise within, in the heart, at the mere recital of this 
terrible scene. Again, how powerfully, although 
indirectly, the sacred writer appeals to the senti- 
ment of compassion, in describing the lamentation 
of David over Saul and Jonathan,* one of the most 
beautiful and touching pieces of composition which 
was ever penned. And more strongly still is the 
same sentiment excited by the description of David's 
sorrowfor his unworthy son Absalom. "The king 
therefore being much moved, went up to the high- 
chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went 
he spake in this manner : My son Absalom, 
Absalom my son : who would grant me that I might 
die for thee, Absalom my son, my son Absalom. r 'f 
Who can read these words, so touching in their 
simplicity, without feeling his heart excited to com- 
passion for the father who could thus bewail the un- 
timely death of his rebellious and ungrateful child ; 
or how could the sacred writer have taken a more 
effectual means of awakening this sentiment, than 
by this natural and life-like description of the king's 
sorrow. Perhaps one of the most artistic and 
highly- wrought examples of the indirect appeal to 

* 2 Kings, i. 17. t 2 Kings, xviii. 33. 



PERSUASION. 283 

the passions is to be found in the speech of Anthony 
over the dead body of Caesar. It is almost impos- 
sible to conceive that any direct appeal could have 
been equally successful in stirring up those strong 
and fierce passions, which are represented as hav- 
ing been awakened by this crafty but most skilful 
address. 

It would be useless to dwell at greater length, in 
this place, on the necessity of moving the passions 
in order to secure the end of a persuasive oration, 
neither is it necessary to examine critically the 
nature of those passions. The ancient rhetoricians 
lay down a very elaborate system according to 
which the appeals to the passions are to be con- 
ducted. They inquire metaphysically into the 
nature of every passion, give a definition and 
description of it, treat of its cause, its effects, and 
its concomitants, and thence deduce technical rules 
for working upon it. Aristotle, especially, has 
discussed this matter with great subtilty, and what 
he has written may, as Blair remarks, be read with 
great profit as a piece of moral philosophy, but we 
doubt whether this study wall have much influence 
in rendering the preacher more pathetic, since we 
doubt whether any mere philosophical knowledge 
will do much to give a man the power of moving. 
For this reason, and because we shall treat suffi- 
ciently of the subject when speaking of the method 
of conducting the pathetic part of a discourse, we 
have not deemed it necessary in this place to enter 
into any more critical examination of the passions, 
but shall at once poceed to consider the conditions 



284 THE PATHETIC PART- 

which are requisite, and the order in which the 
appeal to the passions is to be carried on ; first 
briefly remarking that although, as is evident, a 
discourse does not always directly tend to persuade, 
still that this is its general characteristic and scope, 
since instruction and argumentation merely pave 
the way for persuasion, of whose peculiar charac- 
teristics they ought to partake, as far as is con- 
sonant to their own natural and proper qualities. 
For example, the first quality of an argument, no 
doubt, is sound reasoning ; but the rhetorical argu- 
ment, as we have already shown, is, by its amplifi- 
cation, the language in which it is clothed, and the 
manner in which it is put, adapted not only to con- 
vince, but also, in a certain measure and degree, 
to persuade. 

The appeal to the passions is not confined to any 
particular part, but may be employed throughout 
the course of a sermon, as the nature of the subject 
and the experience of the preacher may suggest. 
As a general rule it is out of place in the introduc- 
tion. It comes in, both properly and powerfully, 
although in a modified degree, at the conclusion of 
each part or point of a sermon, since we there wind 
up some argument, or class of proofs, which we 
naturally seek to drive home, not only to the in- 
tellect, but to the hearts of our hearers. Its place, 
par excellence, where it reigns supreme is, however, 
as we shall show later on, in the peroration, or 
conclusion of a discourse. 



PERSUASION. 285 



Section III. 

Certain conditions which are required in him who 
appeals to the Passions, 

In order to move a Christian audience, to touch 
the heart and change it from vice to virtue, it is 
clear that a man must be something more than 
a mere actor, that he must possess some higher 
qualifications than those required in him who plays 
his part on the profane stage, and who, when he is 
a master of his art, is able to acquire such a wonder- 
ful, although temporary influence over the feelings 
of his audience. 

The Christian preacher must be an orator, but, 
more than that, he must be a man of edifying life 
and a man of prayer. He must be a man of edifying 
life, since his audience will not allow themselves 
to be truly and efficaciously moved and changed by 
the words of one whose conduct is a living and open 
contradiction to his preaching. He must be a man 
of prayer, because, however much he may labour, 
and however great his natural talents may be, it is 
the all-powerful grace of God alone which can 
crown his preaching with a fruitful increase. Paul 
may plant, and Apollo may water, but it is God 
who giveth the increase — and this grace he will 
only obtain by fervent prayer for the success of that 
great work, which, undertaken with a pure inten- 
tion and in the simple discharge of duty, has for 
its sole object the greater glory of God and the 
salvation of souls. 



286 THE PATHETIC PART. 

Another essential qualification, required in him 
who aspires to move others, is to be first deeply 
moved himself, and, so to speak, inspired by his 
subject. Cor sapientis erudiet os ejus* et labiis ejus 
addet gratiam* says the Holy Ghost. The true 
orator, in the strict sense of the word, must be a 
man endowed with lively sensibilities ; with a keen 
appreciation of the beautiful, the sublime, and the 
true; and possessed of strong", but, of course, well- 
disciplined passions. He must be able to feel, and 
he must be able to express strongly, that which he 
feels deeply. Experience teaches that the heart 
alone which is itself moved is able to move the 
hearts of others. " I have tried," says Cicero, " all 
the means of moving. I have raised them to the 
highest degree of perfection which was in my 
power, but I candidly confess that I owe my suc- 
cess much less to my own efforts than to the force 
of the passions which agitate me when I speak in 
public, and which carry me out of myself. It was 
their force which enabled me to reduce Hortensius 
to silence, and to close the mouth of Cataline.'*'t 
"We aspire," says Ouintilian, "to move others 
strongly. Let us first feel in our own hearts those 
sentiments with which we seek to animate them. 
How shall I soften others if my own words prove 
that I myself am unmoved ? How shall I inflame 
the hearts of my hearers if I myself am cold r 
How shall I draw the tears from their eyes if my 
own are dry ? It is impossible. You cannot en- 
kindle a conflagration without fire, as you cannot 

* Prov. xvi. 23. + Orat. oxxxii. and cxxix. 



PERSUASION. 287 

fertilise a field without the dews of heaven."* 
Hence, the well-known and familiar sentence of 
Horace : 

11 . . . • • Si vis mefiere, dclendum est 
Primum ij>si tioi." 

And the reason of all this is very plain. When 
the preacher is profoundly penetrated with, and 
moved by his subject, his interior emotion imparts 
to his words, his looks, his gestures, his whole bear- 
ing, a warmth and feeling which exercise an irresis- 
tible influence upon his hearers. To this source, 
too, is doubtless to be traced the real inspiration of 
the sympathetic voice— that voice, or rather that 
quality of the voice which is of such inestimable 
value to him who possesses it ; that quality for the 
acquiring of which we can lay down no technical 
rules ; which we cannot define, which we cannot 
describe beyond saying that it is a something in the 
tone of the preacher which exercises an irresistible 
attraction upon his hearers, which, before he has 
uttered ten sentences. has enlisted them instinctively 
on his side, and predisposed them, even before they 
have heard his discourse, to think as he thinks, 
and to will as he wills. We have a striking instance 
of this in St. Ignatius Loyola, who, although he 
preached with the utmost simplicity of language, 
did so with such an unction and emotion that, even 
those amongst his audience who did not understand 
the language in which he spoke were, nevertheless, 
moved to tears by the very tones of his voice, by 

* Lib. vi, 



288 THE PATHETIC PART 

the earnestness and burning zeal which appeared 
in his every gesture and look. 

If we do not really feel in our own heart those 
sentiments with which we seek to inspire others, it 
is vain to make pretence of possessing them. It is 
vain to put them on as the profane actor does; 
although it may be fairly doubted whether the real 
actor, the real man of genius, does not truly succeed 
in making himself feel, for the time being, those 
affections and passions which he expresses so 
powerfully, and by whose means he acts so wonder- 
fully on his audience. 

It is the heart alone which speaks to the heart, 
and no failure is more deplorable, as no pretence 
is more absurd, than that of the preacher who seeks 
to move others, and to inspire them with deep 
emotions and generous sentiments, whilst his own 
heart is perfectly cold and unmoved, dead to those 
feelings which he aspires to awaken in them. In 
such a case his gesticulation is in excess, and his 
tears are but pretended. There is neither reality, 
depth, nor meaning in his affected emotion. Either 
he moves his audience to laughter at his ridiculous 
acting, or he inspires them with compassion for his 
utter failure. 

Let us listen for a moment to St. Francis of 
Sales : — " Your words,'' he says, " must be inflamed 
not by cries and excessive gesticulation, but by the 
interior warmth and feeling of your soul. They 
must spring from the heart rather than from the 
mouth. It has been beautifully said that it is the 
heart which appeals to the heart, the tongue only 



APPEAL TO THE PASSIONS. 2&Q 

speaks to the ears." Hence the reason why some 
preachers who are, in a certain sense of the word, 
very popular, produce so little real fruit. Their 
discourses are composed in the most brilliant style, 
and are brimming with figures of speech, and 
flowers of rhetoric. So far as regards mere com- 
position, nothing is wanting; and yet, as we listen 
to the preacher whilst he pours forth all this beauti- 
ful language, we cannot help experiencing a sensa- 
tion that he does not really feel the sentiments 
which he expresses ; that his language does not 
spring warm from his heart ; that he is, to speak 
the plain unvarnished truth, but a declaimer. On 
the same ground we can explain the success of 
those holy men who conduct the " Missions " which 
produce such wonderful results. It is not that they 
are more learned, that they instruct more clearly, 
or reason more profoundly than ordinary preachers; 
but it is because they understand better how to 
appeal to the heart, and because they speak with 
the burning words of men who appreciate very 
keenly the interests of God and the salvation o 
souls. Their w T ords carry not only conviction, bu 
persuasion, to the hearts of their hearers, and hence 
the triumphs over sin, over habits which appeared 
inveterate, which are the glorious results of a 
successful " Mission." Hence, too, the extempore 
sermon is, positis fionendis, often so much more 
successful than the discourse which is written and 
committed to memory, since it gains in force and 
feeling what it may lose in mere strict correct- 
ness of composition. Dr. Newman has the fol- 
ia 



290 THE PATHETIC PART. 

lowing beautiful and practical remarks on this 
subject :— 

" Earnestness creates earnestness ra others by 
sympathy; and the more a preacher loses and is lost 
tohimself, the more does he gain his brethren. Nor is 
it without some logical force also ; for what is power- 
ful enough to absorb and possess a preacher, has at 
least a prima facie claim of attention on the part of 
his hearers. On the other hand, anything which 
interferes with this earnestness, or which argues its 
absence, is still more certain to blunt the force of 
the most cogent argument conveyed in the most 
eloquent language. Hence it is that the great 
philosopher of antiquity, in speaking, in his treatise 
on rhetoric, of the various kinds of persuasives \vhich 
are available in the art, considers the mo-t authori- 
tative of these to be that which is drawn from 
personal traits of a moral nature evident in the 
orator ; for such matters are cognisable by all men, 
and the common sense of the world decides that it 
is safer, when it is possible, to commit one's self to the 
judgment of men ofcharacter, than to any considera- 
tion addressed merely to the feelings or the reason. 

"On these grounds I would go on to lay down a 
precept, which I trust is not extravagant, when 
allowance is made for the preciseness and the point 
which are unavoidable in all categorical statements 
upon matters of conduct. It is that preachers should 
neglect everything besides devotion to their one 
object, and earnestness in enforcing it, till they 
in some good measure attain to these requisites. 
Talent, logic, learning, words, manner, voice, action, 



APPEAL TO THE PASSIONS .2QI 

all are required for the perfection of a preacher ; 
but ' one thing is necessary' — an intense perception 
and appreciation of the end for which he preaches, 
and that is, to be the minister of some definite 
spiritual good to those who hear him. Who could 
wish to be more eloquent, more powerful, more 
successful than the Teacher of the Nations ? yet 
who more earnest, who more natural, who more un- 
studied, who more self- forgetting thin He ? . . . . 
I do not mean that a preacher must aim at earnest- 
ness, but that he must aim at his object, which is to do 
some spiritual good to his hearers, and which will 
at once make him earnest. It is said that, when a 
man has to cross an abyss by a narrow plank thrown 
over it, it is wisdom not to look at the plank, along 
which lies his path, but to fix his eyes steadily on 
the point in the opposite precipice, at which the 
plank ends. It is by gazing at the object which he 
must reach, and ruling himself by it, that he secure.. 
to himself the power of walking to it straight and 
steadily. The case is the same in moral matters .- 
no one will become really earnest by aiming di- 
rectly at earnestness ; anyone may become earnest 
by meditating on the motives, and by drinking 
at the sources of earnestness. We may of course 
work ourselves up into a pretence, nay, into a 
paroxysm, of earnestness, as we may chafe our cold 
hands till they are warm. But when we cease 
chafing, we lose the w T armth again ; on the contrary, 
let the sun come out and strike us with his beams, 
and we need no artificial chafing to be warm. The 
hot words, then, and energetic gestures of a preache 



292 THE PATHETIC PART, 

taken by themselves, are just as much signs of 
earnestness as rubbing the hands or flapping the 
arms together are signs of warmth ; though they 
are natural where earnestness already exists, and 
pleasing as being its spontaneous concomitants. 
To sit down to compose for the pulpit, with a reso- 
lution to be eloquent, is one impediment to per- 
suasion ; but to be determined to be earnest is 
absolutely fatal to it. 

" He who has before his mental eye the four last 
things will have the true earnestness — the horror or 
the rapture of one who witnessed a conflagration, 
or discerned some rich and sublime prospect of 
natural scenery. His countenance, his manner, 
his voice, speak for him, in proportion as his view 
has been vivid and minute. The great English 
poet has described this sort of eloquence, when a 
calamity had befallen : 

*' * Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-page, 
Foretells the nature of a tragic volume. 
Thou tremblest, and the whiteness in thy cheek 
Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.' 

" It is this earnestness, in the supernatural order, 
which is the eloquence of saints ; and not of saints 
only, but of all Christian preachers, according to 
the measure of their faith and love. As the case 
would be with one who has actually seen what he 
relates, the herald of tidings of the invisible world 
also will be, from the nature of the case, whether 
vehement or calm, sad or exulting, always simple, 
grave, emphatic, and peremptory ; and all this, not 
because he has proposed to himself to be so, but 



APPEAL TO THE PASSIONS. 29 j 

because certain intellectual convictions involve cer- 
tain external manifestations."* 

We may, therefore, lay it down as a general 
principle in this matter that a preacher, in order to 
move, must himself be deeply impressed with his 
subject, and intimately affected by it. 

But the difficulty of course is to secure these 
essential conditions. It is easy enough when Nature 
has endowed a preacher, and it is one of her most 
precious gifts, with that keen and tender sensibility 
of soul which enables him at once not only to 
appreciate, but to /eel, whatever is true, beautiful, 
and sublime. It is easy for such a man to be elo- 
quent, to pour forth from the hidden depths of his 
own heart those grand ideas, those noble senti- 
ments, those generous emotions, which move his 
hearers even as he himself is moved. It is this ex- 
quisite sensibility which imparts all their charm y 
to the writings of Fenelon, which renders some of 
the compositions oi St. Bernard so pathetic in the 
truest meaning of the word, and which inspires some 
of the masterpieces of St. John Chrysostom. 

If a man have not received the gift of this pre- 
cious sensibility, although he may become a great 
lecturer, he will never become a great preacher. 
Incapable of true feeling or emotion himself, how 
can he excite these sentiments in others ? Let him 
who has received these inestimable gifts in their ful- 
ness labour to develop them to the highest degree. 
Let him who has received them in a lesser measure 
labour all the more earnestly to turn to the very 

* University Preaching, 



J 94 THE PATHETIC PART. 

best account the talent which it has pleased his 
Master to entrust to him. Let both the one and 
the other be persuaded, as we have already - 
that purity of life, that a spirit of prayer and de- 
tachment from the world, that a burning zeal lor 
the glory of God and the salvation of immortal 
souls, are the most efficacious means of nourish] 
and developing these precious qualities. If a man 
be pure, if he be a man of prayer, if his soul be 
truly inflamed with zeal for the glory of God and 
the salvation of the souls for whom He died, it is 
impossible for him to speak coldly and without 
feeling on those sublime and important subjects 
which are so intimately and essentially connected 
with the dearest interests of his Master, and of his 
flock. Such a man must necessarily be a man of 
feeling*, in a higher or lower degree; and, in that 
degree also, he must necessarily be an eloquent man. 

Although internal feeling is the soul of eloquence, 
still, it is evident that the preacher, in order to ac: 
upon his hearers, must be able to paint vividly 
those sentiments which he feels deeply. He:ve 
the necessity of what is technically called word- 
painting. 

The great orator not only expresses his senti- 
ments, but he paints them. The inward feeling 
shows itself in the tones of his voice, in his gesture, 
in his countenance; in a word, in the whole ex- 
terior deportment of the preacher, which bears 
witness to the reality and the depth, as well as to 
the extent of that feeling. It also not rarely gives 
shape and form to his very words, and, when this 



APPEAL TO THE PASSIONS. 295 

is the case, its result is the most powerful and 
vivid kind of word-painting, and that direct action 
of the preacher upon the souls of his hearers which 
has already been described. 

When, however, the inspiration may not be so 
intense, nor its influence upon our words so keen 
and direct, we mast, in orcer to give vivid expres- 
sion to our sentiments, avail ourselves of those 
other succours which are placed at our disposal, 
viz., imagination, rhetoric, and taste. 

The imagination is that faculty of the soul which 
represents objects, the creations of the mind or 
actual occurrences, in such a lively manner, and 
under such various points of view, as to bring. them 
in distinct and living form before us. It renders 
them, so to speak, tangible and real ; it gives them 
" a local habitation and a name ;" it clothes the 
naked, and perhaps uninviting truth in those rich 
and beautiful garments of conception and of ex- 
pression which render it potent to interest, to soften, 
and to move. " The fruits of imagination," says 
Longinus, " animate and give life to a discourse ; 
they captivate and persuade." The means of culti- 
vating and developing this inestimable faculty, so 
precious in itself, so useful and so necessary to the 
orator, consists in representing vividly to one's self 
those actions of which we speak, just as if we our- 
selves had seen them, and were merely relating* 
what we had seen ; in studying deeply circum- 
stances of persons, time, place, and manner, attend- 
ing principally to those which are best adapted to 
iinpealto the imagination; and in reading good 



2(jb THE PATHETIC PART. 

authors, observing how they, by lively images, 
render their ideas sensible and real, and thus bring 
them home in all their vivid reality to the minds 
and hearts of their readers. 

Rhetoric is the auxiliary on which the imagina- 
tion principally relies for aid, cultivation, develop- 
ment, and expression. The vivid conceptions of 
the imagination find their most lively and most 
telling expression in the principal rhetorical figures, 
as in exclamations and apostrophes, especially such 
as are addressed in tender and fervent words to 
God ; in interrogation, the most lively and spirited 
of all the figures of rhetoric ; in dialogue, which 
brings the preacher and his audienca into the most 
direct and intimate relation with each other, and 
which, therefore, is so well adapted to impart life 
to a discourse ; in soliloquy, by which the hearer is 
made to enter into himself, to reproach himself for 
the past, and inspire himself with good resolutions 
for the future ; in adjuration, which consists in call- 
ing God, his saints, the altar, the cross, or the very 
walls of the church, to bear witness to the pious 
intentions of our audience ; in fine, in those sighs 
and ardent desires which the pious preacher ad- 
dresses to God during his sermon for the conversion 
of his flock, for the grace of causing them to love the 
God who poured forth his Precious Blood for their 
salvation. When the preacher speaks from a heart 
that is animated by a lively faith and a tender love, 
he is certain to speak with effect. A short prayer, 
an aspiration of love, zeal, or desire of God's glory, 
one glance of his eyes to heaven, even a single sigh 



APPEAL TO THE PASSIONS. 2Q7 

coming from such a man, is sufficient to impart a 
force to the most simple reflections which will move 
an audience to tears. Such is the effect oi sanctity 
and zeal in a preacher. 

Finally, the orator must be a man of good taste, 
that pure and delicate instinct which intimately 
appreciates whatever is truly beautiful, which dis- 
covers intuitively whatever is false, coarse or un- 
becoming, which renders an idea or sentiment 
with perfect truth and perfect propriety. Without 
its control and direction the imagination runs 
riot, and rhetoric scatters its flowers without order 
or discernment. Governed and directed by good 
taste, imagination and rhetoric are restrained 
within due limits. The colours which are to em- 
bellish and give beauty to a discourse are distri- 
buted with wisdom instead of being lavished with 
tasteless profusion. Everything is in its place, 
where it ought to be, and as it ought to be. The 
great and important faculty of taste is cultivated 
and developed by the study of good models, by 
the habit of reflection, and by a severe and unspar- 
ing criticism of our own compositions, whether 
spoken or written. 

It is scarcely necessary to add, that the true 
orator is not only animated by strong feelings, but 
that he expresses those feelings in the proper 
language of the passions. The language of the man 
who is under the influence of real and strong passion, 
is simple and unaffected. Altogether taken up by 
the feeling which has so deeply moved him, he 
scarcely bestows a thought upon the manner in 



298 THE PATHETIC PART. 

which he gives expression to it. He merely seeks 
to represent it in all its circumstances, as strongly 
as he feels it. He has no time and less inclination, 
to think about mere words, and hence the simplicity 
and perhaps plainness of the language which he 
employs. His expression, his voice, his gesture, are 
regulated by the depth of his feeling, and although 
his language may be bold, although he may 
employ strong figures, he will use neither frippery 
ornament nor mere finery. His figures will be those 
of thought rather than of words ; and, as his thoughts 
are bold, ardent, and simple, so will the figures ot 
which he makes use and the whole tenor of his lan- 
guage partake of the same qualities. As Dr. Blair 
remarks on this matter, if he were to stay until he 
could work up his style, he would infallibly cool 
his ardour, and, losing his ardour, he would touch 
the heart no more. 



Section IV. 

The order to be observed in appealing to the 
Passions, 

That the appeal to the passions may produce its 
due effect, it must be conducted with great wisdom 
and discretion, and, in as far as true passion and 
feeling can be subjected to fixed rules, according to 
the general principles laid down on this matter by 
the great authorities on oratory. 

i. In the first place, there must be a natural re- 
lation of convenience and agreement between our 



APPEAL TO THE PASSIONS. 1 Q9 

subject and the appeal to the passions. In other 
words, the subject, and that part of it especially to 
which we apply the pathetic, must admit of this ap- 
peal. There are simple subjects in which a 
vehement appeal to the passion's would be utterly 
ridiculous. There are others, as ior example, the 
enormity of sin, the death of the sinner, judgment, 
hell, &c, which admit of the most powerful appeals 
to the feelings of our hearers. Strong appeals to 
the passions are here in their proper place, and 
when employed by a preacher who is truly pene- 
trated by his subject, they produce the most striking 
and consoling results. Again, there are other sub- 
jects, as the love of God and our neighbour, heaven, 
patience, charity, &c, in treating which it is neces- 
sary and becoming to appeal to the more tender 
passions of the soul. Indeed, under this head we 
may range the greater number of those subjects, 
which the preacher will have to treat, since our 
holy religion is founded on charity and love, and 
since the heart cf the sinner is much more easily 
gained, as a general rule, by sweetness than 
through fear. Hence, too, we may conclude that 
the leading characteristic of pulpit oratory should be 
unction, that sweet, pious, and affectionate effusion 
of a heart which is full of God, which makes its way, 
without violence or uproar, into the soul of the 
hearer: which awakens there the most tender and 
becoming emotions, and thus gains it to God with 
all its aspirations and all its powers. Amongst the 
great French preachers, Massillon reigns supreme 
in the possession of this quality. 



$00 tHE PATHETIC PART. 

2. We must gradually prepare the way for the 
appeal to the passions. We must have gained, in 
the first- place, the understanding and judgment 
of our hearers ; so that when the warmth of feeling 
and the emotion produced by the appeal to the pas- 
sions shall have passed, they may be convinced that 
they acted as reasonable men, that there were suffi- 
cient grounds for their entering into the cause, and 
that they were not carried away by mere delusions. 
Preparing them in this manner by instruction and 
solid argumentation, we lead our hearers by degrees 
to the appeal to the feelings, which thus appears to 
come in as a natural consequence of what has been 
said. If we throw in these appeals abruptly, without 
order or a proper preparation of the minds of our 
audience to receive them, we depart from the great 
principles laid down by nature, and instead of be- 
coming pathetic, we run the risk of becoming ridi- 
culous. This precaution is doubly necessary when 
we know our hearers entertain dispositions, which 
are anything but favourable to our purpose. We 
must in these circumstances commence, as we have 
already said, by entering into their thoughts, and 
conforming ourselves to their situation. We must 
then gently soothe, and thus remove, the passions 
which are opposed to those which we wish to excite; 
and finally, appeal to those feelings and emotions 
which we aspire to awaken in them. If we do not 
thus gradually and carefully prepare the way for 
the appeal to the passions, it is impossible that it 
can produce any real or lasting effect. 

3. Every appeal to the passions ought to be pro- 



APPEAL TO THE PASSION 301 

perly sustained and not concluded with too much 
haste, or with any undue or ill-timed brevity. No 
lasting impression will be produced on the heart, if, 
in order to pass on to something else, we hastily 
leave undeveloped the emotion which may have 
begun to manifest itself. By neglecting properly to 
sustain the emotion which we profess to excite, we 
prove that it was merely factitious, that it had no 
real foundation in our own heart : and thus we de- 
stroy its effect. At the same time our hearers who 
had began to be moved, and who were delivering 
themselves up, willingly and gladly, to those 
emotions which we had succeeded, to some extent, 
in exciting in them, finding that the preacher 
stops short and concludes where they thought that 
he was but commencing, also, on their side, draw 
back and return to their coldness and insensibility. 
It is a great want of tact and of taste, when we have 
once begun to appeal to the feelings of our hearers, 
to leave that appeal imperfect and only half worked 
out. When once undertaken we should labour to 
render it as complete as possible, developing it in 
its varied bearings with all the energy at our com- 
mand, that thus we may enter more intimately into 
the hearts of our hearers and move them more 
deeply. Unless we render our appeal thus effective 
we had better leave it alone, 

4. Whilst we labour to prepare our audience 
gradually for the appeal to their feelings, and 
whilst we properly sustain and carry out that 
appeal, we must equally guard against another ex- 
treme, viz., the pressing 01 those movements, or 



302 THE PATHETIC PART. 

appeals, too far, If we must know whereto begin, 
still more must we know where to leave off. 

The state of the soul, whilst under the influence of 
strong feeling, is, to a certain degree, a state of 
violence, and therefore it must necessarily be 
transitory and brief. Prolonged feeling, when 
strong, is contrary to nature. The stronger any 
emotion is the'more brief is its duration. 

When, therefore, the preacher has succeeded in 
awakening in his hearers those deep and efficacious 
affections which are to win the w T ill to God, he 
ought to be very much on his guard lest he fritter 
them away in empty words. Hence it is that the 
language of the passions is strong, vivid, rapid — 
sometimes even rough. It has no time to occupy 
itself about nicely balanced periods, ingenious 
figures, or highly finished sentences. The emo- 
tions which, rushing hot from the heart, are merely 
finding expression in the words of the lips, are 
only solicitous about finding that expression, not 
about the language in which they may be worded. 

There is no rule for the expression of emotions 
such as these — for the voice in which they .ire 
uttered, and the gestures by which they find addi- 
tional force — save those emotions themselves ; just 
as the soldier, whose whole energies are bent upon 
driving the enemy from the gate of his city, does 
not stop one instant to consider whether the spec- 
tators are admiring his efforts, provided those 
efforts are being crowned with success. Whilst the 
preacher is under the influence of sincere, honest, 
and fervent zeal ; whilst he pours forth his burning 



APPEAL TO THE PASSIONS. 303 

words from a heart inflamed with his subject and 
the internal interests of his flock; let him not doubt 
that nature will supply, in abundance, adornment 
and figures of speech as his subject demands or re- 
quires. The very force, strength, and unction of 
his language in such circumstances, will be its best 
adornment. 

But, as we have already said, let him be on his 
guard against pushing this too far. That which is 
strong must be brief, as that which is violent cannot 
endure. Even supposing that the lungs of the 
preacher were robust enough to enable him to 
thunder forth during the whole course of his sermon, 
it does not follow that his hearers would have 
courage or strength enough to sustain the continued 
assaults of his fiery eloquence. Besides, we have 
shown that the appeals to the passions, in the sense 
in which we have explained the term, are intended 
to produce effects, that may to a certain degree be 
called extraordinary; and that their aid is only in- 
voked in order to perfect the work of instruction 
and argumentation. 

If this be the true view of their employment, it 
follows that, as they must not be pushed too far, so 
neither must they be employed too frequently. If 
employed too frequently, they naturally enough 
lose that extraordinary effect which renders them 
such an efficacious instrument in the hand of the 
preacher. If you are continually endeavouring to 
awaken strong emotions in the soul, she becomes 
accustomed to, and hardened by them ; just as the 
body becomes hardened and callous under repeated 



304 THE PATHETIC PART. 

blows j and thus their effect is utterly destroyed. 
Hence, although there is no part of a discourse 
which ought not to be animated by his zeal and 
rendered interesting by those temperate appeals to 
the feelings which the nature of the subject, and the 
experience of the preacher, will infallibly suggest 
to him ; still, it is equally true and certain that, 
what we may call the more formal appeal to the 
feelings, must only be employed at intervals during 
a sermon, and with a perfect agreement of fltnoss 
and relation between the sentiment, its depth and 
expression, and the general nature of our subject, 
as well as that particular part of the sermon in 
which we employ it. 

A natural place for the appeal to the feelings is 
at the end of each part, or point of a discourse. It 
it to be presumed that, during the course of our 
argumentation, in establishing any one of the points 
of our sermon, we have taken a good deal of pains 
to reason clearly, strongly, and in such a manner 
as to carry conviction to our audience. It is only 
natural we should desire to put the finishing stroke 
to our work by an appeal to the feelings of our 
hearers; and, thus, this appeal comes in with pro- 
priety at the end of each part of our discourse ; or, 
at the conclusion of any argument which we are 
particularly anxious to drive home. Its peculiar 
place, however, as we shall presently show, is in the 
peroration or conclusion of the sermon. 

In fine, the preacher in his appeals to the feelings 
must most carefully guard against anything that is 
in the least degree ou.re, ill-timed, or in bad taste. 



PERORATION, OR CONCLUSION. ,305 

Let him carefully treasure up the wise saying of 
Quintilianon this point 1" Nihil habet ista res medium, 
sed aui iacryraas meretur autrisum* — in other words, 
that there is but a step between the sublime and the 
ridiculous. If he aspire to the pathetic without 
succeeding in his efforts, the probability is that he 
will simply become ridiculous ; he will certainly 
become cold, tedious, and ineffective. Ne quis, sine 
summis ingenii viribus, ad movendas i aery mas aggredi 
audeat, . . . Metiatur ac diligenter cestimet vires 
suas, et quantum onus subiturus sil, intelligai.f 



Section V. 
The Peroration, or Conclusion of the Discourse. 

After these preliminary observations on "persua- 
sion" in general, and the means by which it is to be 
secured, we now proceed to treat of the Peroration, 
or Conclusion of the Discourse. The truth, laid 
down in our proposition and developed in the divi- 
sion, having been sufficiently explained and con- 
firmed by solid argument during the course or the 
sermon — in other words, the points of our discours 
having been thoroughly established — nothing now 
remains but to bring the whole matter to a proper 
and effective conclusion. 

There is no part of a discourse which requires 
to be more skilfully managed, and more carefully 

# Lib. vt, r, r, f ibid. 

ZO: 



306 THE PATHETIC PART. 

studied, than the peroration. This is, indeed, the 
decisive moment, the last assault which is to decide 
the victory. Spite of our explanations, spite of our 
reasoning, it may be that our hearers still hang 
back, unable to deny the force of our arguments, 
and yet unwilling to make the generous sacrifices 
which God demands at their hands. It is in these 
concluding and decisive moments that we are to 
bring the full weight of our zeal, of our loye, of our 
ardent desire for the advancement of their best in- 
terests, to bear upon the hearts of our hearers. It 
is in these moments that we are to rush down upon 
them with all the highest efforts of our talent con- 
centrated on one grand assault ; that we are to 
press the reluctant but already wavering will, from 
every side; that we are to leave that will, and the 
irregular passions by which it is sustained, no loop- 
hole for escape ; that, thus urged, influenced, and 
moved by every power which one man can bring to 
bear upon another, we may wring from our hearers 
full and unconditional submission to the force of 
those arguments which we have laid before them, 
and those conclusions which we have rigorously de- 
duced; that thus we may draw from the penitent's 
eye those saving tears which are to wash even his 
deadliest sins away; that thus w~e may awaken those 
generous resolutions, and obtain those triumphs of 
grace, which are the trophies, and the only ones, 
for which the true soldier of Christ so ardently 
sighs. 

Hence, the peroration is, above all other parts of 
a discourse, the place for the appeal to the passions. 



PERORATION, OR CONCLUSION. 307 

From the general idea of the nature of those appeals 
which we have already given, it follows that the 
peroration is brief, admitting of no argument 
strictly so called, nor of any long explanations. 
In these last few decisive moments, when the will 
is to be finally gained or lost, all must be strong, 
vigorous, passionate, warm from the heart. Qua, 
excellant) serventur ad perorandum* says Cicero; 
and Quintilian writes : Hie, si usquam, totos elo- 
quentice fontes aperire licet.f It is in these supreme 
moments that passion collects, and animates with 
its own sacred fire, those strong, impetuous, and 
ardent appeals — those brilliant turns of thought — 
those living expressions — those bold figures of 
speech— those melting images — which pour forth, 
as it were spontaneously, from the lips of him who 
is truly inspired by his subject and his mission. 
And hence it is that the discreet and practised 
preacher not only takes care to reserve his most 
telling strokes for his peroration, but also to hus- 
band sufficient physical strength and vigour with 
which to deliver them with the fullest effect. 

With these remarks on the general nature and 
object of the peroration, we will now briefly con- 
sider it in detail. A sermon may be either wholly 
argumentative, wholly exhortatory or pathetic, or, 
as is the case with ordinary sermons, partly argu- 
mentative and partly exhortatory. The conclusion 
will, naturally, be in accordance with the discourse 
which it concludes. 

* Pe Orat, Lib, ii, f Lib. vi f c. X, 



308 THE PATHETIC PART. 

When the sermon is altogether argumentative 
or controversial, as may sometimes, although we 
imagine very rarely, be required, the conclusion 
wilA of course consist of a mere recapitulation of 
the arguments. Such a conclusion, however, has no 
-;iaim to be called a peroration in the oratorical 
meaning of the word. 

When the sermon is altogether exhortatory, the 
peroration is, a fort to r z", altogether exhortatory too, 
or taken up with an appeal to the passions, and this 
is the peroration strictly so called. 

However, as neither of the above class of sermons 
is likely to be frequently employed by ordinary 
pastors preaching to ordinary congregations, we 
shall not spend any time in considering its proper 
peroration, as this is sufficiently clear from the 
general principles which have been already laid 
down, and the nature of the case. 

The peroration of the ordinary sermon, which is 
partly argumentative and partly exhortatory or 
pathetic, comprises as a general rule, which of course 
suffers exceptions, four leading heads. 

1. The first point in such a conclusion is a brief 
recapitulation and summary of the parts of the dis- 
course, and of those leading arguments which we 
deem most conducive to persuasion. By thus col- 
lecting them in one serried and compact body they 
produce a greater impression upon the mind and 
heart, and thus gain a more complete victory over 
our hearers than they do when merely brought for- 
ward one by one, and without the additional strength 



PERORATION, OR CONCLUSION. 309 

which they acquire from mutual support. Si per 
singula minus mover at) iter bd valet* 

This recapitulation, however, must be extremely 
brief, rapid, and almost imperceptible to the au- 
dience, since they will naturally be unwilling to 
return over the ground w 7 hich they have already 
travelled. As Cicero strikingly expresses it, our 
end in this matter is, nt memoria, non oratio, reno- 
vata videatur.f Without we manage it in thiF 
manner our hearers will not listen to our recapitu- 
lation. 

Besides, our object in this place is not to prove, 
but to add additional force to those proofs which 
we have already established. Into this recapitula- 
tion we must throw as much energy and warmth, 
and as great variety of expression as possible. 
Indeed, w r e should contrive to give our hearers this 
brief, rapid, and vigorous resume of the leading 
points and arguments of our discourse, without 
allowing them, in as far as such a mode of proceed- 
ing is practicable, to perceive that we are recapitu- 
lating. In other words, the matter should be so 
arranged that whilst, indirectly, we recapitulate our 
arguments, we do it in such a manner as really to 
make an appeal to those passions which are proper 
to be awakened in the case. 

2. The second head of the peroration should 
embrace the special fruit of the discourse, or the 
practical conclusions and resolutions regarding a 
more holy life, which naturally flow from the great 

* Quint., Lib. \i f De Inven. lib. i, 



3IO THE PATHETIC PART. 

uth which has formed the subject of it. St. 
Liguori lays down special rules concerning this 
point, and recommends it to preachers in the mo^t 
earnest manner. He counsels tl ?m to embody 
these resolutions, whenever it can be done, in an 
act of contrition, which they are to repeat from the 
pulpit in tones of the most lively compunction and 
of the deepest and warmest love; since this is the 
favourable moment, he says, in which y T our hearers 
are prepared to break forth in sighs and tears, and 
return to the God whom they have so long, perhaps 
forsaken. 

3. The third element of the peroration consists 
in that earnest, burning, and zealous exhortation 
which is to penetrate the most hidden recesses of 
every heart, which is to change every will, and 
make the triumph of grace complete. This is the 
peroration, strictly so called; and having dwelt 
so fully upon its nature, object, and means, in other 
parts of this chapter, it would be only repetition 
and loss of time to delay longer upon it here. We 
will merely remark that, as we advance in our 
peroration, so are we to advance in earnestness 
and fervour. The same principle holds in this as 
in other parts of a sermon, Ut angeatur semper, 
et increscat oratio. It is very effective when, in our 
final appeal, we can strongly and vividly reproduce 
the leading idea of the whole discourse. It has a 
very great effect upon our hearers, after so many 
solid proofs, and so many skilful strokes of oratory 
have been devoted to it, to see the great leading 
truth, the parent idea ; appear once more at this 



PERORATION, OR CONCLUSION. 3 1 

crowning moment in ail the force of its beautiful 
simplicity, in all the strength of its unity. The 
discourse thus finishes where it began, and thus 
exhibits itself once more in all the attractivene^ 
of that unity which is at once its beauty and its 
strength. This method of concluding becomes 
more striking still when we close our discourse 
with the same text of Scripture with which we 
commenced it, thus fixing the seal of God's holy 
Word upon that which we began in his name, 
which we have carried on to his greater honour 
and glory, and which we thus conclude with the 
self-same words which contained his commission 
to us in the beginning, as they now place the stamp 
of his divine authority upon the end of our work — 
a work so humble and imperfect in itself, so grand 
and so august as the work of his minister who has 
said : Qui vos audit, me audit ; et qui vos spemit, 
me spernit. 

Finally, the peroration is most fitly concluded by 
a short and fervent prayer addressed to Jesus 
Christ, his Blessed Mother, or his saints, to ask 
grace and strength to put into effect those holy 
resolutions with which we have been inspired. 
Such was the custom of the great preachers of 
antiquity. Such is the practice of many modern 
orators, and, although it is not of obligation, it is 
well worthy of imitation. Massillon, Pere Mac 
Carthy, and many other eminent preachers, were 
accustomed to clothe this concluding prayer in a 
scriptural garb, by putting it in the form of a para- 
phrase of some select text of Holy Writ ; and this 



312 THEPAnMSnC PART. 

/e need hardly add, renders it doubly effective, 
Mist it also naturally leads the way to th^ 
benediction with which the pre^chev concludes hi* 
liscourse. 



Examples. 

Peroration to Archbishop Manning* s Funeral 
Oration of Cardinal Wiseman* 

u Great and noble in his life, he was greater and 
nobler in his death. There were about it a calm- 
ness, a recollection, a majesty, an order of perfect 
fitness and preparation worthy of the chamber of 
death, and such as became the last hours of a 
Pastor and Prince of the Church of God. He was 
a great Christian in all the deepest, largest, 
simplest meaning of the name, and a great Priest 
in thought, word, and deed, in the whole career of 
his life, and in the mould of his whole being. He 
died the death of the just, making a worthy and 
proportionate end to a course so great. 

"We have lost a Friend, a Father, and a Pastor, 
whose memory will be with us while life lasts. 
As one who knew him well, said of him, c We 
are all lowered by his loss/ We have all lost 
somewhat which was our support, our strength, 
our guidance, our pattern, and our pride. We have 
lost him who, in the face of this great people, 
worthily represented the greatness and the majesty 
of the Universal Church. He has fallen asleep in 
the midst of the generous, kindly, just, noble- 



PERORATION, OR CONCLUSION. 3T3 

hearted sympathy of the people, the public men, 
the public voices of England ; a great people 
strong and bold in its warfare, but humane, chival- 
rous, and Christian to the antagonists who arc 
worthy to contend with it. He is gone, but he 
has left behind him in our memories a long line of 
historical pictures traced in the light of other days 
upon a field which will retain its colours fresh and 
vivid for ever. Some of you remember him as the 
companion of your boyhood, apon the bare hills of 
Durham ; some in the early morning of his life, in 
the sanctuaries of Rome ; some see before them 
now his slender, stooping form, on a bright winter's 
day, walking to the Festival of St. Agnes, out of the 
walls ; some, again, drawn up to the full stature of 
his manhood rising above the storm, and contend- 
ing with the calm, commanding voice of reason 
against the momentary excitement of the people 
of England. Some, again, can see him vested 
and arrayed as a Prince of the Church with the 
twelve suffragans of England, closing the long pro- 
cession which opened the first Provincial Synod of 
Westminster, after the silence of three hundred 
years. Some will picture him in the great hall of 
a Roman palace, surrounded by half the bishops 
of the world, of every language and of every land, 
chosen by them as their chief to fashion their words 
in declaring to the Sovereign Pontiff their filial 
obedience to the spiritual and temporal power with 
which God has invested the Vicar of his Son. 
Some will see him feeble in death, but strong in 
faith, arrayed as a pontiff surrounded by the 



314 ME PATHETIC PART. 

chapter of his church, by word and deed verifying* 
the Apostle's testimony : * I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kepttho 
faith ;' and some will cherish above all these visions 
of greatness and of glory, the calm, sweet counte- 
nance of their best, fastest friend and father, lying 
in the dim light of his chamber, not of death, but 
of transit to his crown. These things are visions, 
but they are substance. * Transit gloria mundi* 
as the flax burns in fire. But these things shall 
not pass away. Bear him forth, Right Reverend 
Fathers and dear brethren in Jesus Christ — bear 
him forth to the green burial-ground on the out- 
skirts of this busy wilderness of men. It was his 
desire to die and to be buried, not amid the glories 
of Rome, but in the midst of his flock, the first 
Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. Lay him in 
the midst of that earth as a shepherd in the midst 
of his sheep, near to the Holy Cross, the symbol of 
his life, work, and hope ; where the pastors he has 
ordained will be buried one by one in a circle round 
about him in death, as they laboured round about 
him in life. He will be in the midst of us still. His 
name, his form, his words, his patience, his love of 
souls, to be out law, our rebuke, our consolation. 
And yet not so : it is but the body of his death 
which you bear forth with tears of loving venera- 
tion. He is not here. He will not be there. He 
is already where the Great Shepherd of the sheep 
is numbering his elect, and those who led them to 
the fold of Eternal Life. And the hands which 
have, so often blessed you, which anointed you, 



PERORATION, OR CONCLUSION, 315 

which fed you with the Bread of Life, are already 
lifted up in prayer, which never ceases day nor night 
for you, one by one, for England, for the Church 
in all the world." 



Peroration of Dr. Newman's Sermon — il God's will 
the End of Life" 

"The world goes on from age to age, but the 
holy angels and blessed saints are always crying 
alas, alas ! and woe, woe ! over the loss of voca- 
tions and the disappointment of hopes, and the 
scorn of God's love, and the ruin of souls. One 
generation succeeds another, ' and whenever they 
look down upon earth from their golden thrones, 
they see scarcely anything but a multitude of guar- 
dian spirits, downcast and sad, each following his 
own charge, in anxiety, or in terror, or in despair, 
vainly endeavouring to shield him from the enemy, 
and failing because he will not be shielded. Times 
come and go, and man will not believe that th at 1S 
to be which is not yet, or that what is now only 
continues for a season, and is not eternity. The 
end is the trial ; the world passes ; it is but a 
pageant and a scene, the lofty palace crumbles, the 
busy city is mute, the ships of Tarshish have sped 
away. On the heart and flesh death comes ; the 
veil is breaking. Departing soul, how hast thou 
used thy talents, thy opportunities, th3 light poured 
around thee, the warnings given thee, the grace 
inspired into thee? O my Lord and Saviour, sup- 



3 16 THE PATHETIC PARI. 

port me in that hour in the strong arms of thy 
sacraments, and by the fresh fragrance of thy cor - 
solations. Let the absolving words be said over 
me, and the holy oil sign and seal me, and thy own 
Body be my food, and thy Blood my sprinkling ; 
and let sweet Alary breathe on me. and my angel 
whisper peace to me, and my glorious saints, and 
my own dear Father smile on me ; that in them all, 
and through them all, I may receive the gifts of 
perseverance, and die as I desire to live, in thy 
faith, in thy Church, in thy service, and in thy 
love/' 






CHAPTER X. 

FINAL PREPARATION. 

PON arriving at this point in our investiga- 
tion aid having conducted the student 
through all the stages of the remote and 
proximate preparation, as weil as of the actual 
composition ot his discourse, nothing now remains 
but briefly to consider what may be styled the final 
preparation to be undergone before the preacher 
can confidently approach the delivery of his sermon. 
We may divide this part of our subject into two 
sections : — I. The careful revision of the written 
discourse : and, II. The accurate committing of it 
to memory — without, however, entering into the 
question of Delivery, properly so called, which we 
purpose to consider fully in a second and future 
series of this work. 

Section I. 
Careful Revision of the Written Discourse. 

We have taken it for granted that the young 
preacher will write at least a considerable number 
of his sermons, and that 1 § will do so with gnat 



318 FINAL PREPARATION, 

care and diligent attention. In order, however, 
that his success may be perfect, and the fiuitof his 
labours permanent, there is yet another stage to be 
undergone in his preparation, even after the happy 
and felicitous completion of his written discourse, 
and this is a careful revision and correction of his 
composition. 

His first essay, no matter how happy it may have 
been, will necessarily be full of imperfections, and 
when the young writer treats himself too tenderly 
in regard to these imperfections, he takes the most 
efficacious means he could devise of rendering them 
permanent and incurable. He must, then, carefully 
revise the first written copy of his sermon, dili- 
gently correcting the construction and connection 
of his sentences, the turns of thought, the figures 
of speech, and whatever he may deem improper, 
incorrect, or contrary to order and precision in his 
expressions. 

Like the skilful painter, who is never weary of 
adding those finishing touches which bring out his 
picture in all the perfection of its beauty, the dili- 
gent writer is never weary of adding those figures 
and those oratorical touches which may increase 
the effect of his discourse, never weary of retrench- 
ing and remorselessly sacrificing everything which 
may be irregular or not to the point — of supplying 
that which may be wanting — of transposing that 
which may be out of place — of modifying whatever 
may need modification or correction. Always sup- 
posing that he does not interfere with, nor diminish 
the force and freshness of his first ideas and his origri- 



FINAL PREPARATION. 3 19 

nal conceptions, the more he revises his discourse 
the more will the writer contribute to its perfection 
and beauty, since each time that he goes over it he 
is certain to find something to amend, to correct, or 
to change. 

The first revision at least is essential. Whilst 
committing his discourse to memory there are many 
points which will occur to the writer as requir- 
ing modification, if not correction ; many striking 
figures which will add to its beauty, many develop- 
ments which will increase its strength, are certain 
to present themselves to his mind, and these, of 
course, must be added. He will also find it most 
useful to retouch his sermon after he has delivered 
it, since it is in the moment of delivery that the 
preacher sees most clearly, as well what is wanting, 
as what is most effective and telling, in his discourse. 
In fine, if he wish to render his work most perfect 
and complete, he will, after some years spent in the 
preaching of the Divine Word, read again and 
revise the productions of his earlier days. 

When reflection and experience shall have chas- 
tened and matured his judgment; when that undue 
tenderness for his first productions which, perhaps, 
dimmed his sight to their imperfections, shall have 
passed away ; when the warmth of the youthful 
i nagination, which is a very precious gift in its own 
season, shall have baen toned down by the weight 
of growing years ; he will be better able to hold the 
scales with an impartial hand, and to define the 
limits between what is pleasing and what is useful, 
between what is calculated to flatter the ear and 



}20 FINAL PREPARATION. 

what is potent to influence the will and move the 
heart to better and holier things. 

In this way the sermons which he composed with 
so much diligence and care, with so much warmth 
and earnestness, in the first years of his ministry, 
will be equally useful to him as time rolls on, and 
he becomes less disposed for, or less able to under- 
take, the labour of written composition. Nay, they 
will become still more useful, since, to the warmth 
of the youthful imagination which sparkles in their 
pag-es, and to the substantial correctness of the 
doctrine and of the instruction which they contain, 
he will be able to add that supereminent quality 
and element of success which can be gained in no 
other way, the experience and the power of practi- 
cal application which are acquired by long years 
of hard work and meritorious service in the culti" 
vation of the vineyard of the Lord. 

.... Carmen reprehendite, quod non 
Multa dies et multa litura coercuit atque 
Prcesectum decies non castigavit ad unguent. 

Nor let the young ecclesiastic be terrified from 
undertaking this revision of his sermons by the 
thought that it is tedious, painful, and laborious. 
Let him rather remember that it is this very labour 
which, if he have the courage to undertake it, is 
the surest guarantee of his success. If he be 
valiant enough to conquer these first difficulties, 
the habit of writing quickly and well will be the 
certain fruit of his victory. " I prescribe to those 
who commence to write/' says Quintilian, ''slow* 



FINAL PREPARATION. 321 

ness and solicitude in composing." It is essential 
to begin by writing as well as possible : facility 
will arise from habit. No man will ever learn how 
to write well by writing quickly; but, in learning 
how to write well, he will in the end learn how to 
write quickly. Cito scribendo non Jit ut bene scriba- 
tur : bene scribendo Jit ut cito* Such has ever been 
the practice of the greatest writers in every depart- 
ment of literature. Such, as we learn from their own 
testimony, has been the constant practice of those 
illustrious pulpit orators who are of necessity the 
models whom the young preacher is bound to place 
before his eyes, in whose footsteps he is bound to 
walk, with an appreciative admiration of their per- 
fections, with a diligent and laborious employment 
of those means alike indispensable to them and to 
him, for the attainment of that excellence which 
they acquired in such an eminent degree, and to 
whieh he aspires with such a laudable ambition — 
the ambition of employing it to the greater glory 
of God and the salvation of immortal souls. 

Section II. f 

Necessity and Manner oj Committing the Discourse 
to Memory. 
The sermon havingbeen accurately composed and 
carefully revised, nothing remains, in order that 
the preacher may ascend the pulpit with confidence 
and ease, but thepenect and expedite "possession" 
of it. In other words, he must possess what he has 

* Lib. x. 5. 

2T 



322 FINAL PREPARATION. 

composed, if not memcriter, at least so completely, 
and with such thorough confidence, as will enable 
him to deliver it with ease, with fluency, and with 
as near an approximation as is possible under the 
circumstances to those qualities which constitute 
the special attraction of the extempore sermon. 

There are some young preachers who, especially 
in the commencement of their career, are so timid, 
so nervous, and have such little command of lan- 
guage as not to be able to utter a single sentence 
unless they have previously composed it. In this 
painful position, they are constrained either to con- 
tent themselves with reading from the pulpit the 
sermon which they have written, or to undergo the 
drudgery of committing it, word by word, sentence 
by sentence, to memory. 

Now, in no sense of the word, can reading be 
called preaching. A sermon is of its very nature, 
as has been already shown, a persuasive oration. 
In real preaching, one man speaks to another. 
From the depths of his own heart, the speaker, in 
warm, earnest, and, in a certain sense, spontaneous 
language, persuades, entreats, and exhorts his 
hearer to adopt and embrace those views, and that 
line of conduct, which are thus urged upon him. 
The sermon which is written and delivered memo- 
riter, is more or less perfect in proportion as it ap- 
proaches, more or less closely, to this idea of a 
persuasive oration. A sermon which is prepared, 
at least substantially, before delivery, as every 
sermon worthy of the name ought to be prepared, 
may be made to possess most of the good qualities 



FINAL PREPARATION* 323 

of the extempore discourse, without its defects. 
The sermon which is merely read from a paper 
never has been, and never will be, anything more 
than a piece of reading. Such a performance never 
has been, and never will be, made to possess those 
qualities of warmth, of earnestness, of spontaneity, 
and of special and varying application, which mark 
the persuasive oration, and which are distinctive 
of, and indispensable to, a sermon in the true sense 
of the word. 

"While, then, a preacher will find it becoming 
and advisable to put into writing any important 
discourse beforehand, he will find it equally a point 
of propriety and expedience not to read it in the 
pulpit. I am not of course denying his right to 
use a manuscript if he wishes ; but he will do well 
to conceal it, as far as he can, or, which is the most 
effectual concealment, whatever be its counter- 
balancing disadvantages, to get it mainly by heart. 
To conceal it, indeed, in one way or other, will be 
his natural impulse ; and this very circumstance 
seems to show us that to read a sermon needs an 
apology. For, why should he get it by heart, or 
conceal his use of it, unless he felt that it was more 
natural, more decorous, to do without it? And so 
again, if he employs a manuscript, the more he 
appears to dispense with it, the more he looks off 
from it, and directly addresses his audience, the 
more will he be considered to preach ; and, on the 
other hand, the more will he be judged to come 
short of preaching, the more sedulous he is in fol- 
lowing his manuscript line after line, and uy i*.v.- 



324 FINiJL PREPARATION. 

tone of his voice makes it clear that he has got it 
safely before him. What is this but a popular 
testimony to the fact that preaching is not reading, 
and reading is not preaching r ;; * 

We take it, therefore, for granted, that the young 
preacher will not attempt to read his discourse. 
But what, then, is he to do in those first days of his 
ministry, when he is too nervous to trust himself 
to deliver one really extempore sentence, or when 
he may be unable to speak without the most accu- 
rate preparation ? 

There is no resource for him, during this time of 
probation, but to commit his sermon to memory so 
perfectly that nothing may be able to discompose 
him at the moment of deliver} 7 . There is nothing 
which gives so much confidence to a young and 
nervous preacher as the fact of being thoroughly 
master of his subject. On the other hand, there is 
nothing so powerfully calculated to embarrass and 
throw him into confusion, as an imperfect " posses- 
sion"' of the discourse which he intends to deliver. 

Unable, either from nervousness, timidity, or 
want of practice and experience, to preach extem- 
pore, and having neglected to commit thediscour.---; 
which he has written to memory perfectly, he is 
certain to break down. He commences well, but, 
after a short time, he begins to hesitate, to stam- 
mer, to repeat himself, and probably ends oy 
taking his manuscript from his breast and reading 1 
the remainder of his discourse. Even though he 

• Universitv Reaching, 



FINAL PREPARATION. 325 

should not break down so completely as this, his 
mind will be so preoccupied with the mere recollect- 
ing of the words of his discourse, as to render his 
delivery cold and uninteresting to the last degree. 
This preoccupation of mind extinguishes all fervour 
and unction, renders his action, if he employs any 
at all, constrained and stiff, and even deprives his 
voice of its natural inflections. He stands before 
his audience merely in the light of a scholar who is 
repeating a lesson which he has learned very badly . 
He compromises the dignity of his ministry ; and 
the intrinsic merit of his discourse, no matter how 
great it may be, is totally overlooked and forgotten 
in the badness of his delivery. 

There is no way of meeting these very serious 
drawbacks to anything like success in our ministry, 
except by committing, accurately and literally, to 
memory that discourse which we have composed 
carefully. A sermon well committed and thoroughly 
possessed, although it may be of merely average 
merit, will appear good ; and if it be really good, it 
will appear excellent. It is related of Massillon, 
that, being asked one day which of his sermons he 
considered the best, he answered, " That which I 
knew the best." And with perfect justice ! 

We have sufficiently explained the inconveniences 
under which the preacher who delivers a discourse 
memoriter almost inevitably labours ; we have also 
shown, that the more closely such a discourse can 
be made to partake of those qualities which consti- 
tute the special charm of the extempore sermon, 
the more nearly it will approach to perfection 



326 FINAL PREPARATION. 

But it is evident that the freedom of action, the 
warmth, energy, and unction, which characterise 
the extempore discourse cannot be attained, in any 
measure or degree, by him who delivers his sermon 
memoriter, unless he "possess" it perfectly and 
imperturbably. It is equally evident, that the more 
perfectly he "possesses" it the more thoroughly 
he will be able to throw off all unpleasant stiffness 
and restraint ; the more nearly he will be able to 
approach the ease, facility, and grace which mark 
the accomplished orator, the more easily he will be 
able to give scope and play to the inspirations of 
that zeal, and the movements of that unction, which 
are the special prerogatives of the Christian preacher. 

Such is the method, and it is in truth a laborious 
one, which most young beginners will find it neces- 
sary to adopt. In some circumstances, and for a 
certain length of time, it would seem to be essential. 
It requires much time, much study, and great 
courage, in order to enable the young preacher to 
overcome the weariness and disgust which are almost 
inseparable from it, and this is the first great in- 
convenience under which it labours. 

In the second place, the preacher who is a slave 
to mere words is almost certain to break down 
some time or other, no matter how well he may 
have committed his sermon to memory. A sudden 
distraction, the forgetting of a single word, will 
cause him to lose the thread of his discourse, and 
thusbecome inextricably embarrassed and confused. 

Thirdly, as we have already sufficiently shown, 
the necessity of adhering slavishly to the exact 



FINAL PREPARATION. 32; 

words of a written discourse is one of the greatest 
obstacles to a warm, earnest, and natural delivery. 
In such circumstances the preacher becomes an 
orator who declaims, a scholar who recites a task, 
rather than a man who gives spontaneous utter- 
ance to the convictions of his mind and heart. The 
very constraint of his action, the very look of his 
eyes, betrays that it is his memory, rather than his 
intellect, which is at work. 

Lastly, and this is perhaps the most formidable 
objection which can be advanced against this 
practice, the man who simply recites his discourse 
verbatim from memory, who cannot say a word 
which he has not previously written, is altogether 
unable to follow those inspirations which the Spirit 
of God may impart to him during the course of 
his sermon Still less can he modify his discourse 
according to those circumstances which may present 
themselves, and which he could not have foreseen ; 
neither can he vary and adapt his language to the 
capacity of his special audience. St. Liguori makes 
some remarks on this subject which are most prac- 
tical and worthy of deep consideration. " These 
kind of preachers/' he says, " carry their discourses 
in their memory, and, whether they speak to the 
ignorant or the learned, they will not change a single 
word. They perceive that their audience do not com- 
prehend them. No matter; they will give no new 
development, no further explanation. They will clear 
up no point, and present it under different and more 
intelligible aspects. They will confine themselves 
to repeating the lesson which they have learned." 



328 PINAL PREPARATION. 

Hence, although this " slavery of words " may 
be absolutely necessary for some time in the com- 
mencement, and, although much may be done to 
modify, if not altogether remove the inconveniences 
which result from the system, nevertheless, in view 
of these inconveniences and others to which it is 
not necessary to make more minute reference, the 
young preacher will endeavour, prudently and by 
degrees, to free himself from its trammels. 

The faculty of memory, under an oratorical 
point of view, may be divided into a memory of 
words, and a memory of ideas. The memory of 
words is that which retains every syllable and every 
phrase, precisely and literally, as it was written. 
The memory of ideas is that which seeks to retain 
the sense, the substance, the foundation, and con- 
nection of that which we have read or written, 
without chaining itself down, to the mechanical 
and literal recollection of every individual word or 
phrase. Or, in other terms, whilst the memory of 
words is directed to the retaining of the ipsissima 
verba of a discourse, the memory of ideas is directed 
to, and is satisfied with, the retaining of the sense 
and substance of it. 

With this preliminary explanation, we venture, 
then, to assert, that the young preacher should 
endeavour, prudently, and in a certain degree in- 
sensibly, to abandon the memory of words in order 
to cultivate and attach himself to the memory of 
ideas. It is scarcely necessary to point out the 
reasons which should induce him to adopt this 
latter course. The great raving of time and labour; 



FINAL PREPARATION. 32 O, 

the increased warmth, energy, and fervour of de- 
livery; the power of adapting and modifying nil 
discourse to the different wants, the special capacity 
or needs of his flock, are motives sufficiently stroi ,g 
and powerful. To the opinion of Quintilian, w/10 
thus writes, Abominanda haze infelicitas, qic& ei 
carsum dicendi reframat et calorem cogitationi ex- 
tingnit : miser enini et pauper orator est, qui n ilium 
verbum aequo ammo per dere potest ,* we may « dd the 
counsel of St. Augustine, who impresses u^jon the 
preacher the necessity of ascertaining from the 
movements of their body, and the expression of 
their countenance, whether his audience compre- 
hend him or not, and whether they ure moved or 
not by his discourse. If he thus discover that they do 
not understand him, or are not affected by what he 
advances, he must, according to <she advice of this 
great master of sacred eloquc nee, present his 
subject to them in other shapes and from other 
points of view, until he gaku his end — a result 
which, the holy doctor wisely adds, is altogether 
out of the reach of him who u unable to advance 
a step beyond the words whii h he has committed 
to memory. f 

Whilst, however, we counsel the young preacher 
to labour to acquire such modest confidence in 
himself and such prudent self-possession, as will 
enable him gradually to throw aside the " slavery 
of words," it is equally necessary to put him upon 
his guard against any unaue reliance upon his 

* Lib. viii. t De Doct. Christ., lib. iv, 25. 



3JO FINAL PREPARATION. 

powers, before they are sufficiently developed and 
matured. In other words, he must not attempt to 
run before he knows how to walk. 

If, in order to discharge his duty with credit to 
the Church and himself, he find it necessary, even 
for several years, to undergo the labour of writ- 
ing his sermons and committing them verbatim to 
memory, he must not shrink from it, or give up 
his task in weariness and disgust. It is his only 
chance of ultimate success, but that ultimate 
success is certain. if he have only courage enough 
to undergo the labour, which is necessary and in- 
dispensable to its attainment. And, at the very 
worst, what will his labour be if compared to that 
which is undergone by the barrister, for an end and 
with motives which surely cannot be put in com- 
parison with those which animate the true priest 
of God. 

As, in course of time, his knowledge becomes 
more deep, ready, and expedite, whilst his self- 
possession and facility of speaking are increased, 
and developed by every succeeding appearance 
which he makes in public, he will be able to satisfy, 
not only himself, but what is of much greater im- 
portance, the obligations of his sacred calling, 
without the labour of writing his discourse from 
end to end, and of committing it, no less laboriously, 
to memory. It will then be sufficient for him to 
prepare his discourse substantially, according to the 
method explained at p. 105. Instead of being tied 
down to the memory of words, he can reasonably 
be satisfied with the memory of ideas; and, so, 



FINAL PREPARATION. 33 I 

with glory to God and credit to himself, discharge 
the obligation which the patient labour of his early 
years will thus render easy to himself, and useful 
to his people. 

But, to repeat what we have already so frequently 
advanced, let him neglect this preliminary but 
essential labour, and growing years in the ministry 
will only confirm him in his imperfections, without 
rendering the real toil of preparation one degree 
less heavy, or less painful. Having never laid the 
foundation, it will be little wonder if he never 
succeed in raising the edifice. It will be less wonder 
still, if, after a time, he give up the pretence of 
preparing his sermons at all ; if he trust to the 
inspiration of the moment for the word which will 
not be at hand when he requires it, for the idea 
which will never be ready ; if he end in becoming 
a declaimer of empty, vapid, meaningless and use- 
less platitudes, instead of a preacher of the Gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ — that Gospel which, in 
the mouth of the true priest, is more living, effectual, 
and piercing than a two-edged sword. 

We may conclude this portion of our subject with 
the remark, that there is no faculty which is more 
improvable than that of memory. It may be de- 
veloped to a prodigious extent by discreet and 
daily exercise. Nothing conduces so much to ease 
and facility in committing a discourse to memory as 
a methodical and well-ordered style of composition, 
where nothing is isolated, where the ideas follow 
and beget one another, where everything is in its 
proper place. When his discourse is drawn up in 



$$2 FINAL PREPARATION. 

this methodical and well-ordered manner, the 
preacher will have no difficulty in* 4 possessing" it, 
at least substantially, from the exordium to the 
conclusion. There is no time so favourable for 
committing a discourse to memory as the silence 
of the night. In these moments of stillness and 
quiet, nature perfects and finishes the work which 
memory began. Above all things, when it is 
necessary to call upon the memory to make a 
vigorous effort, the head must be disengaged and 
free from troublesome and distracting thoughts. 
These are some of the principal means which the 
preacher will find useful on this matter, and they 
are equally applicable to the memory of words, and 
to the memory of ideas. 

With these precautions, the young preacher can 
scarcely fail or utterly break down in his discourse. 
Spite, however, of all his care, his memory may 
betray him on some occasion or other. If he merely 
forget some certain words, let him supply them as 
best he can at the moment. If it be some text or 
phrase which he cannot recall, let him pass it over. 
If the whole thread of his argument seem to disap- 
pear, let him pass on, as smoothly, and with as 
little embarrassment as is possible under the cir- 
cumstances, to the next point of his discourse. 
The first and most essential thing is, not to stop ; 
and the next thing is to hide his confusion as 
perfectly as he is able. The danger of any such 
accident as this will be diminished each time that 
he discharges the duty of preaching. Let him, 
before entering the pulpit, be quite certain that he 



FINAL PREPARATION. 333 

has something definite and clearly marked out to say, 
and something which is worth saying. Let him have, 
at least, its division, its transitions, its leading 
arguments, and its principal figures, thus clearly 
and definitely before his mind when he enters the 
pulpit, and it will be hard, indeed, if he cannot 
find words in which to express the ideas which he 
has already conceived ; if he cannot find lan- 
guage, not merely correct, but strong, earnest, and 
vigorous, in which to clothe those thoughts which 
are at once the creation of an intellect which knows 
how to conceive, and of a heart which knows how 
to feel, and become penetrated with a subject which 
is undertaken at the command of God, and for the 
greater glory of his holy name, -^— 




CHAPTER XL 

STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 

N the introductory chapter of this investi- 
gation into the nature of the Theory and 
Practice of Preaching we advanced the 
proposition that the means by which the sacred 
orator proposes to himself to obtain his end is, by 
Instructing, by Pleasing, and by Moving his flock, 
since these constitute the three-fold element of the 
power by which the rhetorician acts upon the souls 
of his fellow-men, and acquires his influence over 
them. Veritas pateat y Veritas placcat, Veritas ?noveat. 
We cannot, probably, more usefully conclude this 
portion of our inquiry than by a brief resume of 
these principles, and of the manner in which this 
three-fold element of persuasion has been applied 
to our subject, with some practical reflections on 
the whole matter in its relation to the style of the 
pulpit. In this, the first series of the work, our 
object has been to investigate and elucidate the 
" Theory " of Preaching. In a future series we 
hope to consider the " Practice " of Preaching. 
Veritas pateat, Veritas placeat, Veritas moveat. 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 335 

Whilst to instruct, to please, and to move, most 
certainly constitute the three-fold element of the 
rhetorician's power, it is scarcely necessary to add 
that the presence of each element is not necessarily 
required in every case in order that a man may be 
eloquent. True eloquence is the art of acting - upon, 
and influencing our fellow-men, through the expres- 
sion of our own thoughts and feelings. Now, there 
may be circumstances in which we shall most fully 
gain this end by merely instructing and proving 
and, in these circumstances, we shall be eloquent 
although we may not move. For the same reason, 
if we are called upon to speak in circumstances 
where nothing more is required from us than to 
move, we shall be eloquent when we succeed in 
moving, although we may have paid no attention 
to instruction. 

However, although the presence of each of these 
three elements may not be always essential, as a 
general rule they will be found, to some extent at 
least, in every complete and well-ordered discourse, 
and in the operations to w r hich such a composition 
is submitted in the course of its preparation. In 
the " Invention " we find each of these elements, 
since, as a general rule, the preacher, in the inven- 
tion of his discourse, proposes to himself to teach, 
to please, and to move. We find them equally in 
the "Disposition" or arrangement, since, in his 
" Exordium," the preacher seeks to please his 
hearers and render them attentos, benevolos, et 
doc lies ; in the " Body of the Discourse" he endea- 
vours to instruct, to teach, and to prove ; and in the 



336 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 

"Peroration" he aims at moving the heart and 
influencing the will. 

In these pages we have considered at some length, 
and developed pretty fully, the action of what is 
technically called the logical element — Veritas 
pateat ; since the chapter which treats of the " Body 
of the Discourse" has been devoted almost ex- 
clusively to this subject. We have also endeavoured 
to investigate the nature, to show the necessity, and 
explain the manner^ of employing the esthetic, or 
moving element — Veritas moveat. We have to some 
extent, less fully and less directly, treated of what 
Aristotle names the political element of eloquence, 
that element by which the orator gains the good 
will of his hearers, and renders them well-disposed 
towards h\m~ Veritas placeat We deemed it 
advisable to defer the more exact consideration of 
this element, and of the true position which it 
holds in eloquence, to this place ; since, although 
there is no controversy amongst writers as to the 
necessity of instructing and of moving, there is at 
least some apparent disagreement as to the lawful- 
ness or need of seeking to please. 

Before we proceed to lay down any propositions 
on this subject, it is evident that we must have come 
to an understanding about our first principles and 
definitions. Before we assert that the preacher is 
at liberty, or is bound to seek to please his audience, 
or vice-versa, we must clearly lay down what we 
understand by the term to please, as applied to the 
orator. In many passages of his works Cicero 
seems to understand by the art of pleasing nothing 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. ' 337 

more than the pleasant balancing of one's periods, 
and the harmonious cadence of our sentences. But, 
it is pretty evident, that the art of pleasing, as 
applied to the sacred orator, can never consist in 
this. He may please without any such power of 
balancing his periods, without any such facility in 
securing an harmonious cadence to his sentences. 
He may fail to please, although he possess these 
qualities in all their perfection. Nay, he may fail 
to please simply on this account. Fenelon, in his 
Dialogue sur reloquence, seeming to confound mat- 
ters which are very distinct, whilst he bestows all 
possible commendation upon those qualities of a 
discourse which directly tend to persuasion, rejects 
the opinion of those who contend that the preacher, 
in view of his special end, is also bound to seek to 
please. For the art of pleasing he seems to substi- 
tute the art of description, or of word-painting : a 
quality the necessity of which we have already 
sufficiently established as a means, but not as the 
art itself, of pleasing, or as its substitute. 

Whilst, therefore, we embrace the opinion of St. 
Augustine that the sacred orator is bound, not only 
to instruct and to move, but to please, we also 
adopt the term in that broad and true signification 
in which he employs it ; and we assert that the 
art of pleasing, as applied to the preacher, is 
neither more nor less than the art of causing 
himself to be listened to with pleasure, with interest, 
and with confidence. In other words, the preacher 
must be pleasing to his hearers, and thus gain their 
interest and confidence, through the conviction 

22 



338 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 

which they have that he is a good man, through 
the solidity and special fitness of the doctrine which 
he proposes to them, and through the attractive 
and engaging style of composition and delivery 
in which that doctrine is presented to their notice. 
Hence, wc assert that every preacher is bound to 
seek to please, since, in this sense, the art of pleasing 
— the Veritas fi/aceat— is essential to his success. 

We have, in the preceding pages, sufficiently 
established the absolute necessity under which the 
preacher lies of possessing the esteem and respect 
of his hearers, and of preaching a doctrine which, 
by its clearness, its solidity, and its special adap- 
tion to their character, dispositions, and necessities, 
may be calculated not only to be useful to those 
who listen to him, but also thus to conciliate 
that good will, esteem, and respect. On these 
points there can be no dispute. But, it may be 
fairly asked, to what extent the Christian preacher 
is at liberty, or is bound, to despise the graces 
of merely human eloquence, that he may thus 
more fully emulate the simplicity of the Gospel, 
and the folly of the Cross ; or, on the contrary, to 
what extent it is lawful for him or incumbent upon 
him, to employ the graces of language and the 
charms of style, that, by their means, he may the 
more easily please his hearers, and by pleasing them, 
gain them the more readily and effectively to the love 
and sendee of the Almighty God ? And, on this 
point, we do not hesitate to advance a twofold pro- 
position which appears to contain the views which 
are at once the most practical the most reasonable, 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 339 

and the most generally received on this important 
subject. 

Whilst we are certain that the preacher should 
not seek to please his hearers by addressing them 
in a style of affected elegance, or with strained 
effort after effect, we are equally confident that he 
ought, with a view to their conversion, to embellish 
the preaching of the Divine Word with all the 
charms of true and solid eloquence, in such a 
manner as to render it pleasing to his audience, 
and by this means more efficacious for their 
conversion. 

It is evident that the preacher who affects a 
laboured elegance of style, or who strains after 
mere empty display, loses sight, not only of the 
very end of his preaching, but of those who are 
his masters and his models in this holy work. 

Non doctor verbis serviat, sed verba doc tori* is the 
wise and true principle of eloquence as laid down 
by St. Augustine. The true orator employs words 
indeed to express his ideas, but the word is ever 
made subservient to the idea ; whilst he who seeks 
to please by his affected elegance of style and of 
composition is vastly more solicitous about the 
word than about the idea which it may express. 
He thus not only perverts the word from its end, 
but sins against good taste by the manner in which 
he employs it. The orator who is governed by 
good taste seeks to keep himself out of sight, to 
cause his hearers to forget the speaker in the words 

* Pe Doct Christ., lib. iv., 61. 



340 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 

which he utters, and, as a natural consequence, he 
conceals his art under the simplicity and modesty 
of his language. He is, and he desires to appear, 
altogether absorbed and taken up with his subject. 
But the man who strains after mere effect, and who 
aims at mere elegance of style, acts in direct 
opposition to this principle. Losing sight of the 
fact that true eloquence is in the thought, and not 
in the mere word, his w 7 hole care and solicitude are 
directed to the elaboration of his words and the 
trimming of his sentences, but although he may 
by this means succeed in amusing for a time, he 
will never really please, and will very soon begin 
to disgust his hearers. 

Such a false style of preaching is not only op- 
posed to good taste, but is unworthy of the minister 
of the Gospel. The man who preaches in this 
style lowers himself to the level of the young rhe- 
torician whose whole energies are directed to the 
turning of a phrase. He degrades the word of 
God to the service of human eloquence, instead 
of making human eloquence subservient to the 
Gospel of Christ. Instead of entering the pulpit 
absorbed with the great idea of the dignity of his 
mission, and penetrated with an intimate apprecia- 
tion of the grandeur of those subjects which he is 
privileged and commanded to preach — the glory of 
God, and the salvation of immortal souls — he carries 
with him, even into the presence of God, nothing 
but his own narrow views, his own petty interests, 
and his own wretched vanity and self-seeking. The 
preacher simply degrades himself when, in place 



STYLE OF THE PTLPlT. $4 J 

of searching the hearts, awakening the conscience, 
and withdrawing them from the sinful pleasures o( 
the world, he proposes to himself to tickle the ears, 
and minister to the diseased appetites of his hearers. 
It was not thus that St. Paul preached, nor was it 
by these means that he rendered the Gospel pleas- 
ing even to the educated and fastidious Corinthians. 
It is not by such a style of preaching as this that 
the Christian orator is to subdue his age, to become 
the judge and not the slave of his hearers, to speak 
to his audience as their master and not as their 
servant. If he have ever fully realised the great 
idea of Pere Mac Carthy, that the Christian orator is 
not a. preacher but a converter, he will no longer 
seek to please the ear, but to change the heart, to 
cure the sick instead of merely trying to amuse and 
distract them. If he ever employ those ornaments 
which may become his subject and his style, he 
will not use them for their own sake alone, but 
agreeably to the counsel of St, Augustine : "Fertur 
impetu silo, et elocutionis pulchritudinem, si occur- 
rerity vi return rapit, non curd decor is assumiL" 

Nor can anything be more prejudicial to real 
success than this affected style of preaching. Most 
surely God will never bless the preaching of those 
who preach themselves, instead of Jesus Christ, 
and Him crucified : and no matter how elegant it 
may be in composition, no matter how redolent of 
the choicest flowers of rhetoric, the word that does 
not receive the fruitful blessing of God will be 
barren and sterile. 

Looking at the question from a merely human 



34* STYLE OF THE t»UL£>iT. 

point of view, is it not evident that the preacher 
who bestows all his attention upon the mere turn 
of his pnrase, the choice of his expression, and the 
harmony of his periods, will most substantially in- 
terfere with the force, the energy, the strength, 
and the freedom of his composition ? It becomes a 
conflict between the head and the heart, between 
the ideas to be expressed and the mere words in 
which they are to be clothed, and the heart and the 
ideas are sacrificed to the intellect and the words, 
which is a perversion of all order and of all prin- 
ciple. Moreover, in our ordinary congregations, 
how many are there who comprehend these long 
periods, these poetical phrases, these far-fetched 
metaphors, these heaped-up epithets, these newly- 
invented and fantastic words? But, even supposing 
them to be intelligible, they produce no fruit, 
because, being as they are, the inspiration of the 
merely human spirit, smacking much more of the 
schools than of the Gospel, they bring no grace to 
the soul, they write no salutary impressions upon 
the her.rt, they partake in no sense and in no degree 
of the qualities and of the effects of that Divine 
Word, which is more piercing than any two-edged 
sword, which reaches unto the divisions of the soul 
and the spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts 
and intents of the heart. 

No ; let the young preacher be assured that it is 
not by empty words, by affected elegance of style, 
by mere figures of speech, that he will lead his 
hearers to the feet of Jesus Christ; that he will gain 
his greatest triumphs over the powers of sin and 



STYUE OF THE PULPIT. 343 

of hell. Let him rather study to imitate the ex- 
amples which are placed before him in his Divine 
Master and the saints. Who could have preached 
so eloquently if He wished, who could have turned to 
such account the graces of style and the charms of 
language, as our Divine Lord? Nevertheless, the 
preacher will find nothing of this kind in the 
sermons of his Lord and Master. Elevated and 
profound in thought, they are simple and popular 
in expression. Replete with thoughts and prin- 
ciples of morality that are worthy of the study of 
the most elevated intellect, these thoughts and 
these principles are couched in language which 
brings them home at once to the mind and the 
heart of the humblest hearers. It was thus that 
the Apostle of the Nations made known the will of 
God to his hearers : i! Pr&duatio mea non in persuasi- 
bilibus hiivifiiKZ sapientics verbis. Misti me Christ us 
evangelizare non in sapientid verbi, tit non ev;rcuetur 
crux Christi."* And such, too, has been the 
preaching and the practice of all the saints of 
God, who have been called upon to preach his Holy 
Gospel. 

But, whilst we thus condemn and reprobate that 
affected style of preaching which sacrifices sense to 
sound, which seeks to please simply for the sake cf 
pleasing, we are no less certain that the preacher 
of the Gospel is bound, with a view to the conver- 
sion of his people and the becoming discharge of 
his duty, to adorn the word which he preaches 
with all the charms of a true and solid eloquence. 

* I Cor. i. and ii. 



344 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 

The truth of this assertion will be sufficiently 
established if we consider for a moment the consti- 
tution of the human heart, the respect which is due 
to the word of God, and the constant practice of 
the greatest preachers of antiquity. 

There is amongst men an involuntary esteem 
for the eloquence which captivates their attention, 
enchains their interest, and keeps them hanging 
upon the lips of him who speaks with such power 
and force. On the other hand, there is a natural 
disgust and aversion to him who speaks badly. 
Now, all this is doubtless the result of that self- 
love which causes us to listen with pleasure to those 
who, by the correctness of their language, and the 
diligence with which they have prepared them- 
selves, thus testify to the esteem in which they hold 
us, and which causes us to turn away with weary 
impatience and disgust from those who do not 
address us in such terms as we deem due to our 
position, education, &c. Having its foundation in 
self-love, no doubt this sentiment of the human 
heart is wrong andblamable. No doubt, man ought 
not allow himself to be influenced, nor his judg- 
ment to be warped, by these views. But we must 
take man as he is, and not as he ought to be; 
and, therefore, if we find the heart of man thus in- 
fluenced and governed, if we know that there lurks 
within his soul this involuntary esteem of him who 
is truly eloquent, we must avail ourselves of this 
influence, and of this esteem, to turn him to our 
purpose and our will ; we must avail ourselves of 
his love of eloquence ; w^e must strive, in our own 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 345 

proper measure and degree, to acquire this gift in 
all its true and solid perfection : and this, not so 
much for its own sake alone, as that by its means 
we may please our hearers, and by pleasing them 
render them attentive to our instructions, docile 
and obedient to our»exhortations, and thus convert 
and gain them to God. There is no controversy as 
to the necessity of moving, but, as an ordinary rule, 
the preacher will hardly succeed in moving unless 
he is also able to please, and this is evident. 

These remarks, which are true in their application 
to eloquence in general, acquire an additional force 
when applied to the preaching- of the Gospel. And 
here, again, we must take men as we find them. If 
men were all they ought to be, they would love the 
Gospel, with its salutary precepts and its whole- 
some restraints. But the contrary is the fact. They 
listen with unwillingness and distaste to the doc- 
trine which proposes to them Christian abnegation 
as one of the highest and most indispensable of 
their obligations ; and yet we must persuade them, 
not merely to accept our teaching on this point, 
but to reduce it to practice. In order to succeed, 
we shall certainly be under the necessity of calling 
to our aid every assistance which can be legiti- 
mately employed. Render our doctrine as agreeable 
as we may, present it in the most attractive form 
that we are able, and there will still be many who 
will not receive it from us ! How, then, will it be> 
if we disgust our hearers by the roughness of our 
speech, the uncouth ness of our language, and the 
negligence of our composition ? Let us, therefore, 



346 STYLE OF THE JTL'PIT. 

take care that whilst we avoid the Scylla of affected 
elegance we do not fall into the Charybdis of un- 
couth rusticity. The least experience of the world, 
or of the human heart, will teach us that the greater 
part of men require to be won to the truth by the 
attractive dress and the pleasing style in which it 
is presented them. Ilium qui est delectatione affectus, 
facile quo volueris duces; nemo flectitur si molesie 
audit. 

It would be easy to show that the very respect 
which is due to the word of God will impose upon 
the zealous priest the obligation of doing all that 
lies in him to present it to his audience in a proper 
and becoming dress— in other words, adorned with 
all the charms of true and solid eloquence. Such 
has been the view which has ever been held by 
those who are most worthy of our imitation. St. 
Gregory Nazianzen tells us that he travelled by 
land and by sea to acquire the art of eloquence. 
" I do not regret," he says, " those pains and those 
fatigues which were the cost at which I acquired 
such a precious talent. I desire to possess it in 
all its fulness. I have abandoned ail things else 
for God, tliis is the only one of my goods which 
remains to me. I have devoted myself without 
reserve to the art of speaking. I have made it my 
inheritance, and I will never abandon it." " Most 
likely," cries St. Augustine, " I. should never have 
been converted if I had not been attracted to his 
instructions by the eloquence of Ambrose ;" and, 
hence, following in the footsteps of his great master 
and model, St. Augustine devoted all the energies 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 347 

of bis profound intellect to the study of sacred 
eloquence. With this view he composed his great 
work, " De Doctrina Christiana," a work of inesti- 
mable value to the sacred orator, and one whose 
wise precepts and sage counsels form, we venture 
to hope, the very marrow and essence of all that is 
best, most sound, and most worthy of being reduceu 
to practice in these imperfect pages of ours. 

We take it, then, for granted, that the preacher 
is bound to cultivate his style, that he may thus be 
able to embellish the preaching of the word with 
the charms of a true, a solid, and a substantial 
elegance. We take it, too, for granted, that, in this 
sense of the word, he is bound to seek to please his 
hearers. Not, as we have said, for the sake of 
pleasing, but that, by rendering the doctrine which 
he preaches acceptable to his flock, he may per- 
suade them to embrace its salutary precepts. Whilst 
he remembers that he is the adjutor Dei y whose 
blessing can alone crown his work with a fruitful 
increase, he will also remember that God expects 
him to employ, in their highest and most perfect 
manner, all human means which are legitimate for 
the attainment of his end. He will remember that 
the imagination and the passions have come to 
man from the hand of God; that being the gifts 
of God, they are good, and are therefore to be 
employed and directed to his greater honour and 
glory. Our Divine Lord Himself, in his infinite 
condescension, did not disdain to make use of them 
as occasion offered. If these gifts can be abused 
they can also be employed to the greater glory of j 



34 § STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 

Him who gave them. The zealous preacher will 
ever labour thus to employ them. Employing them 
in the cultivation, and for the ends of true and solid 
eloquence, he is employing them legitimately, and 
in such a manner and with such a name as will 
not fail to bring glory to God, salvation to immortal 
souls, and to himself a recompense magna minis, in 
the fulness of which the remembrance of his labours 
and his toils shall be swallowed up and lost for 
ever to his sight. 

Whilst we thus take it for granted that the 
preacher of the Gospel is bound to use his utmost 
efforts to become truly, solidly, and substantially 
eloquent, we also venture to hope that in these 
pages we have sufficiently demonstrated the nature 
and the essential qualities of pulpit eloquence. 
Whilst there are occasions on which the sacred 
orator may and ought to aspire, as God may give 
him power, to the highest flights of eloquence, it 
will more frequently be his duty and his inclination 
to adapt himself to the understanding and the 
capacity of the humble and the ignorant. Above 
all things, the style of the pulpit is popular, in the 
best and only true sense of the* word. It is simple 
without ever becoming mean. Whilst it adapts 
itself to the comprehension of all, it never descends 
to vulgarity, or loses sight of the truth that simpli- 
city of thought and of expression is compatible 
with the greatest purity of style and propriety of 
terms. It is essentially clear, not merely with an 
absolute, but with a relative clearness, so that the 
whole audience have no difficulty in comprehending 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 349 

the meaning of the preacher. Ever grave, ever 
serious, flattering no one, wounding no one, it 
clothes the truth with which it deals in a garment 
of native dignity, of sweet and of modest majesty. 
Plena gravi talis et ponder is — it never becomes 
heavy. It never trifles, although it represents the 
circumstances which it presents to an audience in 
such a lively and sensible manner as to bring them 
vividly before the mind. It is full of colour — colour 
oftentimes of the deepest hue — but ever true, ever 
natural : a colour which is borrowed from the 
writings of those divinely-inspired men whose 
pencils were guided by the Spirit of God. It knows 
how to modify its expressions, to ohange its words, 
to vary its comparisons and its arguments, to pre- 
sent the truth which it treats in different shapes and 
in different forms, according to time, place, and 
circumstance. In fine, the style of the pulpit is 
warm, earnest, and fervid. It is at once the wit- 
ness and the exponent of strong convictions and of 
ardent feelings. It is the Grande dicendi genus of 
St. Augustine — that grand style which has its 
foundations, not in mere words, but in the trans- 
ports of the soul which is profoundly moved. It is 
the style whose effects are likened by St. Paul to 
those of a two-edged sword; the style whose con- 
ceptions and whose utterances are inspired by 
prayer, by the diligent study of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, but, most of all, by that determined will to 
attain his end which the zealous priest of God ever 
proposes to himself, by that hunger and thirst for 
souls with which he is ever consumed. In fine, it is 



35© STYLE OP THE FULPIl. 

the style, the cultivation of which is so strongly 
inculcated in his Encyclical Letter of 1846, by Pope 
Pius IX. 

Ut qui gloriatur,in illo glorietur, in cujus manu 
sunt et nos et serrnones nostri. Sap. VII. We have 
compiled this treatise, and we now offer it to the 
young preacher, in the hope that it maybe of some 
small service to him, in aiding him to discharge 
worthily the high and holy office of preaching the 
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The labour of its 
preparation will be more than recompensed if, 
spite of its imperfections, it may help, even in the 
lowliest degree, to promote the greater glory of 
God and the salvation of immortal souls. 



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